Security News > 2023 > June > Over 60K Adware Apps Posing as Cracked Versions of Popular Apps Target Android Devices

Thousands of adware apps for Android have been found to masquerade as cracks or modded versions of popular apps to redirect users to serve unwanted ads to users as part of a campaign ongoing since October 2022.

The Romanian cybersecurity company said it has discovered 60,000 unique apps carrying the adware, with a majority of the detections located in the U.S., South Korea, Brazil, Germany, the U.K., France, Kazakhstan, Romania, and Italy.

It's worth pointing out that none of the apps are distributed through the official Google Play Store.

Instead, users searching for apps like Netflix, PDF viewers, security software, and cracked versions of YouTube on a search engine are redirected to an ad page hosting the malware.

On the surface, the SpinOk module is designed to maintain users' interest in apps with the help of mini-games and tasks to win alleged rewards.

In a related development, the SonicWall Capture Labs Threat research team also unearthed another strain of Android malware that impersonates legitimate apps to harvest a wide range of information from compromised handsets by abusing the operating system's accessibility services.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2023/06/over-60k-adware-apps-posing-as-cracked.html