Google Play distributed over 200 malicious apps to Android devices. |Photo courtesy: Special Arrangement
More than 200 malicious apps were found to be distributed on Google Play Store, the official store for Android apps, with a total of over 8 million downloads.
We found that the most common threats distributed through these apps are information thieves who can capture SMS and enroll users in random services, adware, loan installers, and banking Trojans. .
Most of the apps containing malware were published in the Tools, Personalization, Photos, Productivity, and Lifestyle categories.
The malicious apps were distributed over a one-year period from June 2023 to April 2024 and were identified by threat intelligence researchers at Zscaler.
Although malicious apps are distributed around the world, India and the United States have emerged as the most targeted countries for mobile malware over the past year, Zscaler Mobile Threats says.
The report also shows that spyware infections have increased significantly, with the education sector being the most targeted.
And while Google has systems in place to keep malicious apps out of the app store, attackers are constantly trying new tricks to circumvent the verification process.
Early last year, Google shared that threat actors were using a new method called “versioning” to distribute malware through application updates. This technique uses servers controlled by threat actors to push malware to users through app updates.
issued – October 17, 2024 1:43 PM IST
