Security News
Joker has been around since 2017, disguising itself within common, legitimate apps like camera apps, games, messengers, photo editors, translators and wallpapers. Once installed, Joker apps silently simulate clicks and intercept SMS messages to subscribe victims to unwanted, paid premium services controlled by the attackers - a type of billing fraud that researchers categorize as "Fleeceware." The apps also steal SMS messages, contact lists and device information.
Messaging apps are becoming some of the most popular smartphone programs in the world, and that means more attempts to phish their users, Kaspersky finds. New data from Kaspersky reveals that messaging apps for Android devices are wildly popular targets for phishing scammers.
Found on Google Play and third-party app stores, the apps discovered by Lookout stole an estimated $350,000 from more than 93,000 people. More than 170 Android apps, including 25 on Google Play, have been caught trying to scam people by offering cryptomining services for a fee but failing to deliver anything in return.
Google on Wednesday announced the availability of the July 2021 security updates for the Android operating system, which include patches for over 40 vulnerabilities. Seventeen of the vulnerabilities were addressed with the 2021-07-01 security patch level.
Researchers at mobile security firm Lookout have identified more than 170 Android apps that target and scam users interested in cryptocurrencies. These apps cannot even be classified as 'malware' since they do nothing typified as malicious and don't contain a payload. This is the height of their sophistication.
Twenty-five of these fake apps were available in the Google Play Store, while those sold on third-party app stores could be side-loaded by victims on their Android devices. Lookout researchers revealed in a report published today that the apps didn't include any cloud cryptomining functionality.
A set of nine malicious Android apps that steal Facebook credentials were found on Google Play, which racked up a collective 5.9 million installations before Google removed them. The malicious apps were detected as trojans called Android.
Google intervened to remove nine Android apps downloaded more than 5.8 million times from the company's Play Store after the apps were caught furtively stealing users' Facebook login credentials. "The applications were fully functional, which was supposed to weaken the vigilance of potential victims. With that, to access all of the apps' functions and, allegedly, to disable in-app ads, users were prompted to log into their Facebook accounts," researchers from Dr. Web said.
Google has announced it is moving away from the APK format for Android apps. So when it was announced that Google was moving away from APKs on Android, in favor of Android Play Bundles, my mind went to one very particular place.
If you don't like the idea of your Android search history being saved, Jack Wallen wants to show you how to set it to auto-delete. You might not know this, but out of the box, Android retains your search history, which means anyone who gains access to your phone can view what you've searched for.