It is undeniable that Android is the most widely used smartphone operating system in the world. Its openness and popularity make it the target of various viruses and malware attacks. In order to resist this threat from all directions, Google has launched a security feature called “Google Play Protect” that can regularly analyze applications installed on users’ mobile phones for malicious behavior.
These 16 Android apps contain advertising fraud, consume data, and affect battery life
Google claims that in addition to rigorous security testing of every app in the Play Store, Google Play Protect also provides users with an extra layer of protection. But there are more than 3.5 million apps available for download in the Google Play Store, and malicious apps have been downloaded more than 4 million times in the past. In the latest such case, security researchers from McAfee discovered advertising fraud in some apps, and Google has now removed 16 of the apps involved. What’s interesting is that all of these affected apps do exactly what their names say, and have been installed a whopping 20 million times in total.
（Image source: sleepingcomputer）
As mentioned above, all affected apps perform legitimate functions, such as turning on flashlights, reading QRCode, helping with unit conversions, etc. While these apps work as expected, they all have one thing in common: they download additional code without the user’s explicit permission. This malicious code helps the developers of these apps to commit ad fraud.
Once the malicious code is downloaded, these apps use Google’s own Firebase cloud messaging platform to repeatedly open specific websites in the background and click on ad links, all without any user intervention. The malicious code also allows the apps to mimic typical smartphone user behavior and is designed to complete all operations without touching the user. Below, we list the names of all the apps confirmed to be affected by this malvertising scam:
| Cozy Camera | Smart Task Manager |
| Flash Plus | Memo Calender |
| WordBook | BusanBus |
| Candle Protest | QuickNote |
| Smart Currency Converter | Barcode |
| Ezdica | Instapp |
| Tingboard | Flashlite |
| Calcut | ImageVault |
In addition to helping developers earn illegal advertising revenue, these malicious programs also increase data consumption on installed devices due to their operating modes and reduce battery life due to constant running. If you have any of these apps installed on your phone, uninstall them now with just a snap of your fingers!
Source: KOCPC Chinese