The Google Play Store has not finished fighting against the scourge of fake applications


A security report shows that two million malicious applications were installed in one month from the Play Store to, in particular, distribute intrusive advertisements.

Android Malware // Source: Frandroid

Two million installations of malicious applications from the Play Store in one month. This is the rather worrying observation drawn up by a recent report from Doctor Web – a company that sells antivirus – cited by BleepingComputer.

Once installed, the installed apps hide their presence on the smartphone and take advantage of this to broadcast intrusive advertisements. Three main families of malware stand out among the two million cases detected: “FakeApp”, “Joker” and “HiddenAds”.

Disguised malware on the Play Store

The last category, HiddenAds, represents the vast majority of installations, including four applications disguised as games on the Play Store:

  • Super Skibydi Killer (1 million downloads);
  • Agent Shooter (500,000);
  • Rainbow Stretch (50,000);
  • Rubber Punch 3D (500,000).
This game on the Play Store actually hid malware // Source: Doctor Web

When installed, these apps can change their icons to impersonate the Google Chrome browser or even make their logo transparent to be harder to detect on the home screen or in the app drawer.

These softwares run discreetly in the background, “ abusing the browser to run ads and generate revenue», we read in the article ofBleepingComputer.

Malware identified as FakeApp leads users to fraudulent investment sites. Some of these apps are games that load questionable online casino websites, in violation of Google Play Store rules.

Finally, apps categorized in the Joker family encourage people to subscribe to a paid service to have more emojis or wallpapers. All apps cited in the report have been removed from the Play Store by Google.

Constant vigilance

However, this shows how the battle against these invasive applications is far from being won in advance. Google is not done fighting against fake apps in the Play Store. The Mountain View firm must remain particularly vigilant, but so must its users. Think carefully before downloading an application and take the time to read the reviews left.



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