Security News > 2022 > August > Android malware apps with 2 million installs found on Google Play
A new batch of thirty-five malware Android apps that display unwanted advertisements was found on the Google Play Store, with the apps installed over 2 million times on victims' mobile devices.
The apps were found by security researchers at Bitdefender, who employed a real-time behavior-based analysis method to discover the potentially malicious applications.
As Bitdefender explains in the report, the adware apps implement multiple methods to hide on Android and even receive later updates to make it easier to hide on devices.
If the user clicks on the icon, the app launches the malware app with a 0 size to hide from view.
In some cases, the apps assume the appearance of Motorola, Oppo, or Samsung system apps.
The rest of the listed apps are available on multiple third-party app stores like APKSOS, APKAIO, APKCombo, APKPure, and APKsfull, but the presented download counts are from their time on the Play Store.
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