Items tagged with Google Play
One of the best ways to avoid mucking up your mobile device with malware is to only download and install software from official app stores. However, you still should never let your guard down, even when avoiding the side-loading scene altogether. If anyone needs reminding of this, a security firm is calling foul on...
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In the latest detection statistics by Dr. Web antivirus for Android, it found that more than two million users were being bamboozled into installing and using certain apps that were actually backdoors for malware, phishing, and adware. These apps were disguised as rewards apps, utilities or system optimizers that...
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Security researchers at Malwarebytes Labs have discovered a small handful of malicious Android apps loitering in Google Play, which collectively have racked up over 1 million installations. According to the researchers, each of the four malicious apps is contaminated with a Trojan that serves up adware and directs...
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Google is engaged in a never ending game of cat and mouse with threat actors on its Play Store who employ different techniques to sneak malware-ridden apps onto the app store. We fairly regularly write about newly discovered batches of malicious apps that went unrecognized as such long enough to infect hundreds of...
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It seems these days that security researchers are sounding the alarm on malicious Androids apps in Google Play at an alarming rate. So it goes again with a fresh reporting highlighting over two dozen Android apps packaged with malware, and which have collectively been downloaded and installed 10 million times. Suffice...
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Time and again, we're reminded that even when installing Android apps directly from Google's Play Store, contracting a malware infection is still possible. It's still the safest route (versus venturing off elsewhere and/or sideloading), but still not foolproof. Case in point, a security researcher has sounded the...
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There are millions of Android apps in Google Play, and while there are safeguards in place to keep malicious ones from sneaking in, a few bad apples inevitably creep through the door. When that happens, millions of devices can end up infected. A recent security report called attention to a handful of them that have...
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Can’t find the Android app all of your friends have been recommending? Its absence is likely intentional. Google Play will soon get rid of apps that do not incorporate the latest privacy and security features.
According to Android for Developers, “existing apps that don’t target an API level within two years of the...
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An Android trojan dubbed Facestealer swipes Facebook credentials after infecting 100K Android users. The trojan gets embedded into unsuspecting user devices after downloading the application Craftsart Cartoon Photo Tools and the malware proceeds to make connections to a Russian server.
The Facestealer trojan is...
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It seems like just about every week there is some new malware threat to mobile users, especially for those who use Android. What if we told you that many of those new threats are not actually new at all?
According to Dr. Web, an anti-malware software provider and security research organization, there was a...
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One app on the Google Play store has sent users’ contacts to a Russian server on the sly. Then, it signed them up for expensive subscriptions. That one app has already been downloaded half a million times. If you’re among those 500,000 users who downloaded the app, you’d best delete it now. The app is called Color...
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Did you watch The Game Awards last night? If you did, then you probably already know this, but if not, here's the deal: Google is bringing its Play Games app to Windows PCs next year. That essentially means you'll have one more PC gaming store to look at, on top of Steam, GOG, Origin, UPlay, Bethesda, Rockstar...
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Netflix officially announced its intentions to enter the extremely lucrative gaming industry this past July. Following up on that, Netflix yesterday tooks it is first step into the already very competitive mobile platform that will include five mobile games at the outset.
Netflix will begin its mobile gaming...
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The Epic Games fight against anticompetitive Apple and Google is still alive and kicking, as Epic now filed a new complaint against Google. The update adds some redacted details about Google’s allegedly anticompetitive behavior and how Epic Games believes that Google is massaging its own statements to conceal “the...
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The billing fraud and SMS-stealing malware known as Joker has returned to the Google Play Store after having its ups and downs dating back to 2017. Researchers now say Joker has a new bag of tricks and can avoid Google’s app-vetting process and sneak onto the market.
Disguised within legitimate-looking apps, Joker...
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In 2018, Google launched the Android App Bundle, a new publishing format that “offers a more efficient way to build and release” an app. Since then, Android developers worldwide, like those at Adobe, Duolingo, Netflix, and Twitter, have taken advantage of this with approximately 1 million different apps. Now, Google...
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Android app developers take note, Google is implementing new guidelines for how apps can be displayed and advertised in the Play Store. The new policies are aimed at preventing apps from misleading Android users with certain buzz words and graphics, like plastering a "Sale" banner across the app's icon in the Play...
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There is a new app in Google Play that is a potential boon for Android handset owners, and it comes directly from Google. You might not recognize its potential by its name alone, however—it is called WifiNanScan, and what it does is measure the distance between two smartphones using the Wi-Fi Aware protocol. So what's...
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Security researchers at Trend Micro say they have uncovered "several vulnerabilities" within an Android application that has been downloaded more than 1 billion times from Google Play. The app is called SHAREit by Smart Media 4U, and it is designed to make transferring photos, videos, music, and other things a snap...
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The popular online stock trading app Robinhood is back down to a dismal one-star user rating in Google Play, as the platform continues to draw heavy criticism after it limited the ability to trade certain stocks following a surge in activity driven by the WallStreetsBets subreddit. And this time around, Google will...
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If you are a fan of the Star Wars universe and the popular Mandalorian series on Disney+, boy do we have an app for you. Google and Lucasfilm worked together to bring "Mando" himself into your living room through the power of augmented reality. You can get this app on select 5G phones today and obtain new experiences...
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Malware known as Joker is no laughing matter, especially if you have downloaded an infected app that could bring its payload. The Zscaler ThreatLabZ research team recently discovered seventeen Android apps with Joker malware. These particular apps were stealing device information, contacts lists, and SMS messages and...
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