Security News
A malicious Android app with more than 500,000 downloads from the Google Play app store has been found hosting malware that stealthily exfiltrates users' contact lists to an attacker-controlled server and signs up users to unwanted paid premium subscriptions without their knowledge. The latest Joker malware was found in a messaging-focused app named Color Message, which has since been removed from the official app marketplace.
Google says this corresponds to roughly 3% of registered developers, as the rest distribute free apps that follow indirect monetization methods. The service fee is 15% for the first $1 million of earnings each year when enrolled and 30% subsequently, which gives smaller developers more help as they scale their business.
An Android app sitting on the Google Play store touts itself to be a photo editor app. Like many Android apps, the "Blender Photo Editor-Easy Photo Background Editor" app comes with the sign-in with Facebook functionality.
Google has shared details of upcoming changes to Android including the ability to blank a device's advertising ID, and a new safety section for apps in the Play store. The advertising ID is an identifier unique to an Android device which is supplied by Google Play Services.
Google announced the introduction of a privacy information section on the entries of Android applications listed in its Google Play Store digital distribution service starting with Q1 2022. "Today, we're pre-announcing an upcoming safety section in Google Play that will help people understand the data an app collects or shares, if that data is secured, and additional details that impact privacy and security," Suzanne Frey, Product VP for Android Security and Privacy, said.
Researchers have uncovered a new set of fraudulent Android apps in the Google Play store that were found to hijack SMS message notifications for carrying out billing fraud. The apps in question primarily targeted users in Southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, attracting a total of 700,000 downloads before they were discovered and removed from the platform.
A new set of malicious Android apps have been caught posing as app security scanners on the official Play Store to distribute a backdoor capable of gathering sensitive information. "These malicious apps urge users to update Chrome, WhatsApp, or a PDF reader, yet instead of updating the app in question, they take full control of the device by abusing accessibility services," cybersecurity firm McAfee said in an analysis published on Monday.
Researchers have discovered new Android malware that uses Netflix as its lure and spreads malware via auto-replies to received WhatsApp messages. read more
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered yet another piece of wormable Android malware-but this time downloadable directly from the official Google Play Store-that's capable of propagating via WhatsApp messages. Disguised as a rogue Netflix app under the name of "FlixOnline," the malware comes with features that allow it to automatically reply to a victim's incoming WhatsApp messages with a payload received from a command-and-control server.
Google has banned the conservative social networking app Parler from the Google Play Store for not removing posts that incite violence in the US. In a statement to BleepingComputer, Google stated that Parler was removed after repeated violations of policies that require Google Play apps to moderate user-generated content. Google Play Store policies require apps that display user-generated content to moderate and remove content that violates Google's policies, including threats of violence and harassment.