With the development of technology, several security issues have also boosted in recent years. But if you are an Android user then you have to be more careful before downloading any app from the Google Play Store. Recently it was revealed that dozens of apps have been removed from the Play Store as they had used adware. These apps were downloaded by millions of people around the world.
Android users are constantly informed about threatening malware which they unknowingly allowed to infect their systems by downloading them from Google Play. On Thursday, October 24, Security firm ESET revealed that Google has deleted 42 apps from the Play Store that had been downloaded eight million times to Android phones and other devices.
As per the researchers at ESET, "Once the malicious app receives its configuration data, the affected device is ready to display ads as per the attacker's choice; each ad is displayed as a full-screen activity." "If the user wants to check which app is responsible for the ad being displayed, by hitting the "Recent apps" button, another trick is used: the app displays a Facebook or Google icon, as seen in Figure 6. The adware mimics these two apps to look legitimate and avoid suspicion – and thus stay on the affected device for as long as possible."
However, the researchers tracked down the developer of adware but didn't name the person in the report. They found that the person is a student at a university in Vietnam and has created apps for Apple's iPhone, but none of them use adware. It should be mentioned that these identified malicious apps are currently available in other app stores and users are still downloading them from other marketplaces. If you have any of these apps, delete those immediately to secure your device from adware.
This list of malware-infested apps includes Video Downloader Master, which had five million downloads, Ringtone Maker Pro, SaveInsta, Tank Classic and many more. Check this below list of Indicators of Compromise (IoCs), which are the pieces of forensic data, such as data found in system log entries or files that identify potentially malicious activity on a device or network.
