Keep in mind that even if an app is removed from Google’s Play Store, that doesn’t mean it will disappear from your phone if you have already downloaded it beforehand. What’s more, many of these apps pop up on the Play Store under a slightly different name after being taken down.
Reports on dangerous Android apps
Cybersecurity firm CloudSEK research (June 1, 2023)
The Cybersecurity firm CloudSEK carried out research via their own proprietary software and discovered apps that contain or had previously contained malware. A total of 193 apps were found, with 43 of them still active on the Google Play Store at the time. These apps have the ability to obtain server addresses, as well as personal data and files.CloudSEK states that the number of users affected by these apps amounts to approximately 30 million, and that most of these apps are casual games that are easily forgotten after being installed and played a little. The researchers advise users to regularly scan their phones via an antivirus software to catch such malicious apps before they get the chance to do damage.
Top 10 infected apps based on number of installs:
- HexaPop Link 2248 (+5 million downloads)
- Macaron Match (+1 million downloads)
- Macaron Boom (+1 million downloads)
- Jelly Connect (+1 million downloads)
- Tiler Master (+1 million downloads)
- Crazy Magic Ball (+1 million downloads)
- Bitcoin Master (+ 1 million downloads)
- Happy 2048 (+1 million downloads)
- Mega Win Slots (+500,000 downloads)
Full list:
GitHub list with SpinOk malware apps (May 29, 2023)
The SpinOk module is presented as a marketing SDK. It collects information from the files on your phone and can then send that data back to the source. It can also gather sensor data from your phone’s sensors to avoid detection by security researchers, which makes it especially dangerous.
As you might notice from looking at the list below, most of the applications are either some kind of game or contain a “prize-winning” system. That is the disguise these apps use to trick users into downloading and engaging them afterward.
The apps listed below are reported to have been installed over 421,000,000 times when the list was uploaded to the website, so the chances are not that slim that one is living in your phone’s app drawer.
Full list:
Kaspersky discovers Android subscription malware (May 4, 2023)
After downloading the app and it gets access to your notifications, it sends out a confirmation code. The malware then runs on your phone, contacting the source it came from and providing information about your location and mobile carrier.
Once the information is acquired, the hackers send a paid subscription page that the trojan opens via an invisible browser to sign the user up for a paid subscription using the confirmation code mentioned above. This whole process is completely hidden and the user never finds out about it while using the downloaded app.
Full list:
- Beauty Camera Plus
- Beauty Photo Camera
- Beauty Slimming Photo Editor
- Fingertip Graffiti
- GIF Camera Editor
- HD 4K Wallpaper
- Impressionism Pro Camera
- Microclip Video Editor
- Night Mode Camera Pro
- Photo Camera Editor
- Photo Effect Editor
MalwareFox list of known Android Malware Apps (March 16, 2023)
List of viruses and the top 25 apps some of them were found in:
| Harly Trojan | Joker Spyware | Autolycos Malware |
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