Of late, Google Play Store has been prone to malicious apps more often than not; we see research reports from various security firms quite often. This report is no different as new malicious Android apps have been discovered that need to be deleted right now, with millions of installs. Read on to know what all the apps are.
Scammy Android apps: 24 new apps found
According to a report by VPNpro, a Chinese company Shenzhen Hawk added 24 Android apps to the Google Play Store that have malign intents. The apps have a total install number of around 382 million, with each app having at least 10 million downloads.
The Android apps showed tints of malicious nature as they request irrelevant app permissions, which are otherwise not needed by an app at all. According to Forbes, the apps asked for the camera, contact, GPS, and even phone access. This way, once installed, the apps could contact the external sever linked to the developers, specifically for targeted ads. This proves to be a case of a privacy breach.
Another thing worth noting is that all the 24 scammy apps didn't have Shenzhen Hawk as its developer but used different names to avoid any suspicion.
Here are the 24 scammy Android apps:
- Sound Recorder (100M)
- Super Cleaner (100M)
- Virus Cleaner 2019 (100M)
- File Manager (50M)
- Joy Launcher (10M)
- Turbo Browser (10M)
- Weather Forecast (10M)
- Candy Selfie Camera (10M)
- Hi VPN, Free VPN (10M)
- Candy Gallery (10M)
- Calendar Lite (5M)
- Super Battery (5M)
- Hi Security 2019 (5M)
- Net Master (5M)
- Puzzle Box (1M)
- Private Browser (500,000)
- Hi VPN Pro (500,000)
- World Zoo (100,000)
- Word Crossy! (100,000)
- Soccer Pinball (10,000)
- Dig it (10,000)
- Laser Break (10,000)
- Music Roam (1,000)
- Word Crush (50)
The aforementioned apps need to be deleted right away and those who haven't downloaded them yet, DO NOT GO FOR THEM.
Scammy Android app: How to remain safe?
Since the presence of scammy/malicious apps on the Google Play Store is a thing, we need to ensure our safety from our end. It's best to see what kind of permissions the various apps ask for. If you find anything fishy, deny those permissions and don't for the apps. It's highly recommended to download safe apps from either Google Play Store or the App Store and look for their reviews as well.
You can further control your app permissions settings from your Android smartphone and make sure you don't have any spammy app if you had one previously.
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