This follows the 25 apps discovered by French information security company EVINA at the beginning of the month.Recently, another foreign research institution, Check Point, found out that there are 11 more apps in Google Play that contain malware, and they are also new variants of the notorious Joker a few years ago. They not only steal users’ personal information, but also display fake advertisements to gain revenue, and even secretly enable subscriptions to premium services and charge fees. Anyone who has installed them must delete them immediately.
11 Android Apps found to contain malware
A few days ago, foreign research organization Check Point released a report stating that they had discovered 11 apps containing a new variant of Joker, pretending to be wallpapers, to-do reminders, games and other apps. Because the program codes had been modified, they successfully bypassed the security review of the Play Store. Although they had been removed from the shelves by Google, they had been downloaded more than 500,000 times before they were removed, which means that many people had installed them. Here is the complete list:
- com.imagecompress.android
- com.contact.withme.texts
- com.hmvoice.friendsms
- com.relax.relaxation.androidsms
- com.cheery.message.sendsms
- com.cheery.message.sendsms
- com.peason.lovinglovemessage
- com.file.recovefiles
- com.LPlocker.lockapps
- com.remindme.alram
- com.training.memorygame
Check Point also added that in order to enable the advanced subscription service of the application without the user’s consent, Joker mainly uses two components “Notification Listener service” and “dynamic dex file loaded by the C&C server to perform registration.”
Although Google Play has continuously strengthened its security in recent years and removed 1,700 malicious programs containing Joker at the beginning of the year, because it is difficult to detect, there is still a chance that it will return again in the future.
Therefore, they recommend that users remember to check the relevant reviews of the application before downloading it. If they suspect that they have downloaded an infected app, they should remove it immediately and check whether there are other charges on the bill.
Source: KOCPC Chinese