Downloading new apps from Google Play Store? Wait, your device might get compromised due to malicious apps. A recent report from TrendLabs, which is a cyber security firm, suggested that the Google Play Store has more than 400 malicious and malware-infected apps. Google Play offers a wide range of great apps, but some infected ones are bypassing the inspection process and could lead to infection of Android mobiles of users.
According to TrendLabs, the company has detected 16.6 million malware using the Trend Micro’s mobile app reputation service and surprisingly, a lot of malicious apps were also found on Google Play Store. The Android platform is vulnerable to such apps, while a specific malware named as ‘DressCode’ is spreading silently since April.
The DressCode malware puts the compromised device into vulnerability and gives access to attackers to use the network of the device. Once the app gets installed on a device, it allows attackers to spy on your device as well as forwarding the user’s data via the available networks.
One of the examples of such malicious apps is the Grand Theft Auto V mod developed by Minecraft (Pocket Edition). The app has been downloaded for 100,000 to 500,000 times.
Back in July this year, another malware called Godless was detected by Trend Micro and it claimed that the malware had infected over 850,000 devices worldwide. Shockingly, out of the total number of affected device, India accounted for 46.19 percent infected devices. Godless targets all the android mobiles that are running on Android 5.1 Lollipop or earlier.
According to Trend Micro, the Godless malware gets access to affected device. As the display of the device gets off, it roots the device and complicates the removal of such apps. The app works as a system app and installs unwanted apps the compromised device which later on gets used to spy on the users.
Though Google has app scrutiny system, hackers occasionally crack the app inspection process and infect apps with malware. Hence it is always advised to download the apps from reputed app developers, and while installation, make sure the app is not requesting for unwanted permissions. Furthermore, an antivirus app from trusted developer could ensure the safety of your android mobiles.
Reference: IndianExpress
