Tag: Google Play

April 3, 2020

MORE THAN 4,000 Google Play apps silently collect a list of all other installed apps in a data grab that allows developers and advertisers to build detailed profiles of users, a recently published research paper found. The apps use an […]

March 26, 2020

Although many legitimate mobile applications designed to help people track and monitor symptoms of the Covid-19 coronavirus are beginning to reach the market, analysis of Android telemetry from Google Play and other third-party marketplaces has revealed that both relatively harmless […]

February 28, 2020

Mobile users downloaded over 200 billion apps in 2019 and the overall expense in app stores worldwide has been estimated in more than $120 billion. Threat actors don’t want to miss this amazing business opportunity and are using rogue apps […]

February 21, 2020

Researchers have caught eight malicious Android apps in the official Google Play app store marketplace distributing a new malware family. The “Haken” malware exfiltrates sensitive data from victims and covertly signs them up for expensive premium subscription services. The eight […]

July 9, 2019

Researchers find more than 1,000 apps in the Google Play store that gather personal data even when the user has denied permission. App publishers like consumer data so much that they’re willing to go to great lengths to get it […]

June 24, 2019

A powerful money-siphoning malware known as MobOk has been found hiding in seemingly legitimate photo editing apps available on the Google Play store. The Pink Camera and Pink Camera 2 apps, now removed, had been installed around 10,000 times, according […]

February 14, 2019

Google Play is ramping up its offensive against malicious apps, which have continued to plague the official app store for Android devices over the years. In a Wednesday post, Andrew Ahn, product manager at Google Play, said that the number […]

January 4, 2019

Malware disguised as games and utilities struck more than 100,000 victims before being taken out of Google Play. New Android malware hit more than 100,000 users in 196 countries before Google removed it from Google Play — and it continues […]

November 15, 2018

Fake cryptocurrency wallets continue to creep their way into Google’s application store for Android aficionados, as one researcher has recently discovered. Using his personal website, independent researcher Lukas Stefanko sounds the alarm over four new fake cryptocurrency wallets that trick […]

February 14, 2018

Jane, the mother of seven-year-old Samantha, was in the next room when she heard a horrible voice coming from the smartphone her daughter was playing with. She came running into the room as the voice continued: “You look afraid, is […]

January 10, 2018

Security researchers at Trend Micro have discovered a malicious application in Google Play that was developed using the Kotlin programming language. Detected as ANDROIDOS_BKOTKLIND.HRX, the malicious program was masquerading as Swift Cleaner, a utility designed to clean and optimize Android […]

November 29, 2017

The Google Play Protect team said it identified a new strain of Android spyware called Tizi found inside several apps previously available via the Google Play marketplace. The recent discovery triggered a wider investigation by Google who said apps infected […]

November 16, 2017

Eight apps found infected with a new Trojan family that ups the ante in obfuscation with four payload stages. A sneaky new Android Trojan family employs four payload stages in its attack rather than the more typical two stages, researchers […]

August 17, 2017

The pervasiveness of smartphones has resulted in an onslaught of mobile apps, and it’s pretty safe to say that, by now, there is an app for every imaginable purpose. Unfortunately, among the many helpful ones are also many malicious apps […]

July 14, 2017

Mobile apps in the Google Play store are categorized by their purpose, i.e., productivity or games. But there is a science to how apps are arranged, in particular around security and privacy features, and especially in holding back those apps […]

March 13, 2017

Among the falsely high-ranking apps, an aggressive ad-displaying trojan was spotted, installed by up to 5,000 users as a tool to download content from YouTube. The app, detected by ESET as Android/Hiddad.BZ, uses a number of deceptive methods to trick […]

March 9, 2017

Researchers at Palo Alto Networks discovered 132 Android apps on Google Play tainted with hidden IFrames linking to malicious domains in their local HTML pages. Interestingly, the malware is Windows-based. The researchers believe developers have been inadvertently grabbing the same sinister […]

February 28, 2017

Android users were the target of new banking malware with screen locking capabilities, which was disguised as a weather forecast app on Google Play. Detected by ESET as Trojan.Android/Spy.Banker.HU, the malware was a trojanized version of the otherwise benign weather […]

February 13, 2017

Google is warning developers that it plans to purge its Play store of apps that don’t have privacy policies. The move could affect millions of apps that don’t spell out what they do with user data. Developers worldwide have been […]

February 1, 2016

Regular readers of Naked Security will know that when it comes to Android malware, we have three primary tips: Install patches for your device as soon as they are available. (Sadly, for some devices, that’s rarely or never.) Use a […]