Recently, not only Taiwan, but also foreign countries have become very crazy about South Korea’s “Squid Game” album. For this reason, a large number of related games and apps have appeared on Google Play. However, these are not officially launched, which also means there are great risks (that is, the Play Store has an audit mechanism). Recently, foreign users discovered that a wallpaper app advertised as “Squid Game” actually contains the notorious Joker malicious code, which not only defrauds users of money, but also steals text messages, device information and other content.
Google Play’s “Squid Game” app was found to contain malicious code
A security researcher announced on Twitter that he discovered that an Android App “SQUID GAME WALLPAPER 4K HD” disguised as a free Squid Game wallpaper is actually a malicious application containing the well-known Joker. The most common method used by Joker is to fake the registration process. Users accidentally subscribe to paid services without knowing it, and the fees are quite high:
#Android #Banking #Trojan #Malware @malwrhunterteam @cryptax@bl4ckh0l3z @JAMESWT_MHT@500mk500#Joker Trojan on Google Play:https://t.co/gXygwRz31Q
"e719ec213ba9e467a0adaefb31e12f95278b7c918540acd85a7fa87d6471410e"
5,000+ Installs— Re-ind (@ReBensk) October 18, 2021
In addition, Joker will also steal the text message content, device information, and device information of the mobile phone. This time, “SQUID GAME WALLPAPER 4K HD” was exposed. Later, ESET’s Lukas Stefanko developed this service for malicious advertising fraud and SMS subscription:
Squid Game themed Android Joker
1) downloads and executes native lib
2) native lib downloads and executes apk payloadRunning this app on device might result in malicious ad-fraud and/or unwanted SMS subscription actionshttps://t.co/PTDtPlUkBy pic.twitter.com/AFs8gkEuab
— Lukas Stefanko (@LukasStefanko) October 19, 2021
The App has been deleted by Google, but more than 5,000 users had downloaded it before deletion. There are now more than 200 unofficial “Squid Game” games and apps in the Play Store. Lukas Stefanko joked that developing unofficial apps for popular albums seems to be a good opportunity to make money. The most downloaded one today has reached 1 million installations in 10 days:
Over 200 #SquidGame related apps are available on Google Play
Seems like a great opportunity to make money on in-app ads from one of the most popular TV show without official game.
The most downloaded of them reached 1M installs in 10 days. Its game play is not that well handled pic.twitter.com/gCOYXXaVHY— Lukas Stefanko (@LukasStefanko) October 19, 2021
Therefore, friends who have downloaded apps related to “Squid Game” should remember to pay more attention when using them. I dare not say that all are bad, but there may be some risks. Do not click or register any links from unknown sources.
Source: KOCPC Chinese