There are plenty of reasons to own an Android phone instead of an iPhone, from the plethora of choices to the lower prices to the experimental designs, but Android device owners also need to be careful about what they install. Google frequently prunes the Play Store of malicious Android apps, but not before millions of users download them.
In September alone, the IT security vendor Dr.Web uncovered more than a dozen such apps on Google Play. They have all since been removed, but if you downloaded any of these apps while they were available, you should delete them immediately.
This week, Dr.Web’s monthly mobile threat report (via Bleeping Computer) highlighted multiple apps infected with Joker, FakeApp, and HiddenAds trojans. Altogether, these apps have been downloaded over 2 million times, so chances are high that a large number of Android users still have one or two of them installed on their phones.
Up first are the adware trojans, which disguise themselves as games. Once installed, these apps try to hide from the user by replacing their icons with transparent images, leaving the app names blank, and even pretending to be a mobile browser like Chrome:
- Super Skibydi Killer | 1,000,000 downloads
- Agent Shooter | 500,000 downloads
- Rubber Punch 3D | 500,000 downloads
- Rainbow Stretch | 50,000 downloads
The security vendor also pointed out several FakeApp trojans, some of which appear to be financial software and others that operate as games:
- Eternal Maze | 50,000 downloads
- Cowboy’s Frontier | 10,000 downloads
- Enchanted Elixir | 10,000 downloads
- Fire Fruits | 10,000 downloads
- Jungle Jewels | 10,000 downloads
- Stellar Secrets | 10,000 downloads
- GazEndow Economic | 1,000 downloads
- FinancialFusion | 1,000 downloads
- Financial Vault | 500 downloads
- MoneyMentor | 0+ downloads
Finally, there are two Joker trojans that Android users should be on the lookout for that subscribe victims to paid services without their knowledge or permission:
- Love Emoji Messenger | 50,000 downloads
- Beauty Wallpaper HD | 1,000 downloads
You can never be too careful when downloading apps from Google Play.
