A new study from security firm Dr. Web found at least 36 apps infected on Android con malware. The ace Apps They are popular for offering services such as image editing, sticker gallery, system optimization or wallpapers.
According to the report of Dr Webfinally infected apps promise different features, but actually deliver intrusive ads, subscribe users to services prime and steal victims’ social media accounts. Also affect cell phone batterybecause they run in the background on the smartphone.
What are the 36 infected apps and what if I installed them?
It’s a lot of malicious apps registers nearly 10 million downloads on mobile devices from Google Play, which has already removed most of these applications. However, if one of the applications is installed withoutand must clear manually there run an AV scan to clean up leftovers. Here are some of the rogue apps infected with adware family Trojans Andrewoid.HiddenAds.
- Photo editor: beauty filter
- Photo editor: retouch and crop
- Photo editor: artistic filters
- Photo Editor – Layout Maker
- Photo editor and background eraser
- Photo editor and Exif
- Photo Editor – Filter Effects
- Photo filters and effects
- Photo editor: blurry image
- Photo editor: crop, grab
- Emoji Keyboard: Stickers and GIFs
- neon theme keyboard
- Neon Theme – Android Keyboard
- Crate cleaner
- elegant cargo
- FastCleaner: crate cleaner
- Call Skins – Call Themes
- funny caller
- CallMe Phone Themes
- Incoming call: contact background
- MyCall – call personalization
- Caller theme
- Caller theme
- Funny Wallpapers – Live Wallpaper
- 4K Auto Wallpaper Changer
- NewScrean: 4D wallpapers
- Wallpapers and Backgrounds
- Notes: reminders and lists
Three Trojan horses Android.Joker familycapable of downloading and executing arbitrary code and subscribing victims to paid mobile services without their knowledge, in applications:
- Poco Launcher
- 4K Pro Camera
- Heart Emoji Stickers
While in two other applications, two malicious Trojans of the family were found Android.PWS.Facebookviruses designed to steal data that can be used to hack into Facebook accounts:
- YouToon – AI Cartoon Effect
- Pista – Cartoon Photo Effect
The specialists of Dr Web they also discovered the Trojan horse Android.Click .401.origin which was hidden in two applications:
- Water Reminder – Track & Reminder
- Yoga – For beginners to advanced
Another trojan spotted was Android.Click .402.originwhich was hidden in its file resources, which secretly load various websites on Web View. Then, this component simulates the actions of the user by automatically clicking on the interactive elements located on these sites, for example: banners and advertising links.
Another threat discovered was a fake app for an online communication call Chatting on the Internetwhere they were staying Android.FakeApp .963 there Android.FakeApp .964that load different websites including scam sites.
How do these infected apps work on Android phones?
Specialists point out that in order to display advertisements, some of the infected apps request permission to display windows on top of other applications; while the others prompt users to add them to the battery saver feature exclusion list.
In addition, to make it more difficult for users to detect these malicious appsTrojans hide their icons from the list of installed applications in the home screen menu or replace the icons with less visible ones.
