ESET experts have found 42 virus apps in the Google Play Store that have been downloaded more than 8 million times. They can all display ad-blocking banners in full-screen mode. At the same time, many of them received high reviews and ratings because they performed their stated jobs.
Among these many applications of video downloaders, memos, radio programs and games ... officially, their developers differ, but in fact, the information exchanged by these applications and games all from the same server.
After analyzing these applications it was found that it collects complete information about the smartphone, including model name, interface language, memory and a list of Facebook and Google services used. It turns out that the purpose of this information is to activate a special code to run certain ads.
Typically, ads start on the user's device after some time has passed. Such delays not only allowed the success of passing to Google Play, but also bypassed the procedure of checking the smartphone using the built-in security tools.
In some cases, based on data from the server connected to these applications, the application can hide its icon and create a shortcut instead. When the user deletes it, the application stays in the phone and runs in the background.
If the user tries, after the appearance of annoying ads, and wants to know the source, the malware in this case tries to trick the user and imagine themselves as Facebook or Google services using their icons.
In the list of installed applications, malware can be hidden under the name of com.google.xxx packages. This is another trick so the user cannot find the virus and remove it manually. In addition, some smartphone security tools automatically ignore processes with names of this type.
Google has already removed all 42 apps, but fraudsters continue to distribute them in alternative stores and in the form of APKs. If you recently installed one of these apps, check to see if they are currently on your phone. It is desirable to remove them.
If you see unusual ads in your phone unusually make sure to check all the applications in your device.
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