Cybersecurity specialists from the company McAfee, responsible for marketing antiviruses, found 16 malware apps on android. They were made available on the Play Store, the official Android operating system store, with more than 20 million downloads. The malware works in the "clicker" mode, known for taking control of the victim's cell phone and accessing websites and other apps without the person knowing. Google has removed the apps from the store, however, you may still have them installed on your device. So, find out which apps have malware.
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Exclude these apps to protect yourself from malware on Android
Usually apps with embedded malware are known to offer good features to users, such as flashlights, calendars, camera apps or note and task managers. See the names below:
- High Speed Camera;
- Smart Task Manager;
- Flashlight+;
- MemoCalendar;
- K-Dictionary;
- BusanBus;
- Quick Note;
- Currency Converter;
- Joycode;
- EzDica;
- Instagram Profile Downloader;
- Ez Notes;
- Flash Lite;
- Calculation
The apps High Speed Camera, Smart Task Manager, Flashlight+, Memo Calendar, K-Dictionary and BusanBus had more than 1 million registered downloads in the PlayStore. High Speed Camera alone had more than 10 million apps downloaded.
How the malware attack works
Once installed on the cell phone, the app starts downloading its configuration remotely. Thus, it registers a configuration known as FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging) to receive updates after downloading the app. Thus, the idea is to browse websites in the background, as if you were the cell phone user, and generate traffic and access to websites with advertising content, practicing fraud and illegal advertising.
The app may seem harmless, but it acts secretly to capture data from websites visited by the user and then use the browser as if it were him. Thus, the only way to get away from this type of fraudulent application is to uninstall it from the device. Avoid downloading unofficial applications and using security devices, such as antivirus, as well may be one of the measures adopted to browse the smartphone without your personal data being exposed.
