Five legitimate-looking apps infect your smartphone with dangerous malware. We’ll tell you what applications they are and how you can get rid of them.
Malicious apps also appear in the App Store. (Source: bedobedo/depositphotos.com)
- Malware often hides in fake apps and infects your smartphone.
- iPhone and Android users are currently equally affected.
- We’ll show you which five apps are affected.
Your smartphone is full of highly sensitive personal data. Be it passwords, addresses or payment details. All of this information represents a particularly attractive target for cybercriminals. To get to the valuable data, they try to infect your cell phone using, for example, phishing emails or SMS. However, the spread of fake apps is even more popular.
Applications that look harmless but are extremely dangerous often appear, especially in the Google Play Store. They only serve as camouflage. After installation, your smartphone will be infected with nasty malware that will cause damage or even steal your data unnoticed.
As a rule, Apple users are safer from such attacks. But hackers occasionally manage to sneak malicious applications into the App Store. They could be on your iPhone or iPad right now.
You have to delete these five apps
Only if you identify the fake apps and uninstall them from your device can you protect yourself from the threat. This means they can no longer cause any damage and your data remains safe. So that you can do this successfully, we will show you what the affected programs are called. This danger affects both Android and Apple devices.
UC web browser
The UC web browser is a browser that is only available for Android. The program’s development company, UCWeb, is owned by the Chinese company Alibaba. You can surf the Internet with the app, but as security researchers at Shefinds report, data transmission is not sufficiently protected. This makes it easy for hackers to carry out cyber attacks and access your data via the software.
Essential Horoscope
Astrology fans have at least one horoscope app. If you are one of them, you may have heard of the Essential Horoscope application. This has been downloaded over 100,000 times from the Google Play Store and is therefore on numerous smartphones. But be careful, McAfee experts warn that the app contains dangerous malware called Xamalicious.
It uses the open source framework Xamarin and hides itself on the infected devices. It then acts undetected from the background and takes control of your smartphone. The malware is then even able to carry out fraudulent actions without your consent or continue to download infected apps.
Fake ChatGPT Apps
Artificial intelligence (AI) is experiencing a real boom and AI bots such as ChatGPT in particular are enjoying growing popularity. Of course, fraudsters also take advantage of this popularity and spread fake versions of the software. These usually look confusingly similar to the original and are offered in both the App Store and the Google Play Store. You can recognize the fake ChatGPT apps by the manufacturer. They are not from OpenAI. They contain a fleece product that is out to get your money.
Noizz
Noizz is an editing program for music and videos. According to Bleeping Computer, it was downloaded a whopping 100 million times last year. A relatively new type of malware, called SpinOk, is hidden in the seemingly harmless app.
It keeps users entertained with mini-games while stealing sensitive data from your smartphone. It is also capable of carrying out malicious functions, uploading files from your device and copying or replacing clipboard content.
SuperVPN
VPN programs are extremely practical. With them you can surf the Internet securely, your data will not be passed on to third parties and you can avoid country restrictions. But the high-quality services can be expensive, which is why free VPN services are often used. However, you have to be careful when choosing, as infected applications can often be hidden among the reputable programs.
Including SuperVPN. The app was recently named the most dangerous VPN tool by experts. The analysis shows that the program involves invasive logging processes, has weak security features, has worrying ties to China, and cannot unblock web content.
Fortunately, the malicious programs have already been removed from the Google and Apple app stores. So you can no longer accidentally download them. But the fake apps tend to return after just a short time under a new name. It is therefore important that you can recognize corresponding applications. We’ll show you how to do this.
This is how you protect yourself
Download software only from official sources. But be careful yourself. As it turns out, fake apps are often hidden in the Google Play Store or App Store. Therefore, check the manufacturer, the comments and the requested permissions before each download. We recommend additionally providing your Android phone with virus protection. There are also antivirus programs for your iPhone.
Even if legitimate applications don’t infect your smartphone with malware, they can still pose a threat to your privacy. In order not to be constantly under surveillance by large companies, you should delete these three apps.
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