Google has struggled for years to keep malicious applications from sneaking into the Play Store, but a new round of takedowns is highlighting the challenge of getting the problem under control. At the beginning of March, Google removed 56 applications that appeared benign, but were tainted with adware. They'd been downloaded more than a million times before.
While more than half the apps claimed to be benign utilities like calculators, translation tools, or cooking apps—common adware smugglers—24 were specifically targeted at kids. These flashy offerings, like puzzles and racing games, are a particularly pernicious way for attackers to get malware onto more victim devices. Researchers from the security firm Check Point disclosed findings about the apps to Google as part of ongoing research into how hackers conceal and distribute malware on Google Play. And they're publishing details about the adware today.
"Since parents have the tendency to give their devices to their children to play with, luring children to install malicious applications is a prominent attack vector to reach devices of adults," says Aviran Hazum, manager of mobile research at Check Point. "Most children don't have the understanding of vetting out applications."
Here's the Malware You Should Actually Worry About
Adware is a longstanding mobile menace, but attackers have gotten particularly aggressive about disseminating it in recent months. The threat detection firm Malwarebytes found in a ..
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