Trend Micro: Top Android Markets Are Hosting Thousands of Malicious Apps.
Trend Micro: Top Android
Markets Are Hosting Thousands of Malicious Apps.
According to TrendMicro,
Google Play and two other top third-party app stores are hosting a combined
1,730 malicious apps as of the first week of this month. As December winds to a
close, it’s estimated that tens of thousands would have downloaded them.
In scale, thousands of potential victims out of a pool of tens
of millions is small change. But given that Google has taken such pains to
attempt to eliminate malware from their marketplace, the fact they are hosting
500 malicious titles is concerning. Then again, the argument that those 500 are
included in millions and the odds of downloading them are low is also valid.
“Though app providers
have implemented certain regulations to mitigate the ruckus of malicious or
high-risk apps, we are still noticing that these apps are being peddled on
popular third party app providers. Some were even downloaded more than 100,000
times. During December 5th- December 10th, we found that a total of 1,730 can still
be downloaded from Google Play and two other third party app providers we’ve
observed,” Trend Micro’s Symphony Luo wrote in a recent blog post.
Of the malicious titles available, most are fake applications, which
tend to display annoying pop-up adverts and harvest personal information. Other
types of malware discovered included the apps that download additional
malicious software, known as GAPPUSIN. They too are responsible for information
theft.
“The selling point of
the Android platform is the freedom it gives to users to download apps from
different app providers. Users have the option to install apps from whichever
sites they prefer. This freedom, however, has been leveraged repeatedly by
malicious developers and cyber criminals who want to take a bite of the Android
craze,” Luo added.With the way things
are going, it may take a while before we see a decrease in malicious Android
apps. As the platform is poised to overshadow its competitors, we can even
expect an increase in this threat... What does this mean for Android users? In
a nutshell, they remain targets of shady developers and criminals who are bent
on taking advantage of the platform. Thus, one can never be too careful in
downloading apps, even from Google Play.”
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