Matrix Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 What just happened? Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: several malware-loaded apps have been found on Google’s official Play Store. Dubbed “Joker,” the malicious software has been detected in 24 apps that have over 472,000 downloads. CSIS Security Group analyst Aleksejs Kuprins made the discovery, which he wrote about in a Medium post. Joker surreptitiously signs its victims up to premium subscription services by simulating the sign-up process. It also steals SMS messages, contact lists, and device information. Kuprins explains that “the automated interaction with the advertisement websites includes simulation of clicks and entering of the authorization codes for premium service subscriptions.” “This strategy works by automating the necessary interaction with the premium offer’s webpage, entering the operator’s offer code, then waiting for a SMS message with a confirmation code and extracting it using regular expressions. Finally, the Joker submits the extracted code to the offer’s webpage, in order to authorize the premium subscription.” The malware potentially targets users in 37 countries, including the US and UK. For most of the apps, the victim has to be using a SIM card from one of the countries to receive the second-stage payload. Google has now removed all of the infected apps from its store— you can see the full list below. If you were one of the nearly half-a-million people to download any of them, checking your bank/credit card statement for any suspicious transactions is advised. Malware-riddled apps on the Play Store is far from a new phenomenon. Last month, CamScanner, a PDF maker with over 100 million downloads, was discovered to contain a Trojan Dropper. Full list of apps infected with Joker Malware: Advocate Wallpaper Age Face Altar Message Antivirus Security – Security Scan Beach Camera Board picture editing Certain Wallpaper Climate SMS Collate Face Scanner Cute Camera Dazzle Wallpaper Declare Message Display Camera Great VPN Humour Camera Ignite Clean Leaf Face Scanner Mini Camera Print Plant scan Rapid Face Scanner Reward Clean Ruddy SMS Soby Camera Spark Wallpaper VIEW: Original Article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 Google has done deleted those apps from the playstore . That dont mean it may not be in others. What's interesting about this malware it's biased . It only attacks you if your using a sim from one of the 37 countries . The report also states that the malware-infected apps only attacks those in selected countries. You would have to be using an active SIM from one of 37 nations. The full list of 37 targeted countries is: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, Myanmar, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Argentina, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States. Google has steadily been removing apps and malware that break their developer terms and conditions with increasing consistency over the past 12 months. CSIS notes that all apps have been removed from the Google Play Store without any notice from the security firm conducting the research. Our advice would be to apply scrutiny to any applications on the Google Play Store that could be claiming to offer something that seems too good to be true. Alternatively, try to stick to reputable developers or apps that are suggested by Google on the main storefront to avoid malware. Source Be careful people when using closed source apps from unknowns , But really you can't trust the well knowns anymore It's nothing new Google themselves is a ad company as in adware they was caught selling peoples data on hidden webpages . Microsoft and Facebook also make ads , Microsoft dont hide the fact they spy on you . when they got caught they just updated there privacy policy saying they do it. Facebook just got fined 5 billion for selling peoples data and they have billions of users that use there apps so big tech have made a big business out of it . Every since the 90s it's been a problem ... Sad thing is Big tech are hypocrites you suppose to trust them with your security and they do a lousy job of protecting you from small time hackers because due to all the backdoors in there services that they use to profit off your data black hats and state hackers also get in . Big Tech are the big time hackers who makes billions of dollars out of your info .so no one is going to protect you against them unless you protect yourself by not using there services .. Microsoft use to not be as bad as they are now but they became just like Google because they moved from being just a Windows company to a big data company , Also Apple is big data and data is like gold . The difference in Facebook and Google vs Apple and Microsoft is one group started out as data companies that evolved into making apps the other groups started out as software/hardware companies and moved to the cloud so there big data too . Those 4 companies have access to most of the Internets data and data is like gold. You got others like Amazon witch will be as big as threat to your privacy in the future as there ad marketing grows . Malware is not only about viruses – companies preinstall it all the time by Richard Stallman https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/22/malware-viruses-companies-preinstall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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