Facua warns that these apps download a remote configuration when they were opened that allowed them to carry out advertising fraud
The Google Play Store tool has countless applications to use on your mobile phone. The truth is that many of them are not usually missing from the desktop of more than one citizen, such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Gmail or YouTube, but these are not the only ones that are used every day and in some cases, the apps less known can hide malicious practices that can affect the proper functioning of your mobile.
From the Facua organization they have warned of the irregularities of up to 16 applications that can be found in the Google Play Store. Specifically, Google has had to remove a total of 16 malicious applications from its Play Store because they contain a new clicker-type ‘malware’, which in addition to draining the battery with its activity, generates a large amount of traffic consuming data. For those who are confused by the names, malware is a malicious program, that is, any type of software that intentionally carries out harmful actions on a computer system.
advertising fraud
The 16 applications identified by the McAfee researchers had been published in the Google Play Store pretending to offer flashlight functions, QR code reading or task managers, among others. Together they accumulated more than 20 million downloads, as reported from their blog.
These applications, once installed on the victim’s computer, downloaded a remote configuration when opened that allowed them to carry out ad fraud. They connected to a Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) service to send messages free of charge. Thanks to this messaging, they generated a large amount of traffic to fraudulent websites without the knowledge or consent of the smartphone user, with the aim of obtaining economic gains through false clicks.
The cybersecurity company pointed out that this malicious activity drained the mobile battery prematurely, this being, together with the consumption of mobile data, the main clue that something anomalous was happening in the device. McAfee researchers reported the results of the investigation to Google, which has since removed the malicious apps from its store.
The cybersecurity company has also pointed out that this malicious activity drained the smartphone’s battery ahead of time, this being, together with the consumption of mobile data, the main clue that something abnormal is happening in the device.
The 16 applications withdrawn
List of the 16 applications affected by malware. /
McAfee researchers notified Google of the results of their investigation, which has since removed the malicious apps from its store.
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