Google Removes Multiple Malicious Apps From Its Play Store
Google has deleted another batch of malicious apps from its Play marketplace. Malware called Joker (a.k.a Bread) has been infiltrating multiple mobile apps on Android devices. Apps which range from productivity software to, text messaging to emoji wallpaper, accounted for over 200,000 user installs.
The new list of apps are posing as real software but are hiding dangerous malware. These apps include, Fingertip GameBox, Emoji Wallpaper, Push Message-Texting, Convenient Scanner, Safety Applock, Separate Doc Scanner. Once these apps are installed they automatically download more malicious code in the background to steal user personal and financial information. These apps, unbeknown to the user, before installation require them to agree to higher security clearance and permission requests. This allows the hackers to penetrate deeper into the mobile device, in order to control it and get hold of users’ data.
The apps that utilize Joker malware are structured to bypass Google security. Joker apps are constantly changing and the discrete nature of the malware itself has been very difficult to trace. Once Google has approved these apps to the Play marketplace, an everyday Android user has no way of knowing that the app they just installed is really a dangerous malware in disguise. Security experts have called these apps fleeceware and Joker has been one of the more successful ones in the last few years. These malware apps in disguise have been able to simulate user clicks, intercept Text-messages and even subscribe victims to unwanted paid services.
Security experts have revealed that Google has removed 17,000 Android apps by 2020 that have utilized some form of Joker malware in its code base. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and more users working remotely the spread of Joker type malware has increased. Hackers have started to target productivity apps that users working from home and remotely can find useful. Since mobile devices and tablets are an integral way of working remotely and communicating, these users fall prey to malicious actors that are using the pandemic to their advantage.
Android users should install and leverage mobile security apps, as Joker has been uncovered with increased frequency. As Google removes the offending apps, tens of thousands of users still have the malicious apps installed on their cellphones and tablets. Unfortunately when apps are removed from the Google Play-store there is no good way to let the users know that these installed apps are dangerous. Security experts have been urging Android users to take action themselves and remove these apps before more damage is done.