{"id":472575,"date":"2022-12-05T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T08:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=472575"},"modified":"2022-12-05T10:06:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T08:06:15","slug":"malware-apps-with-over-2-million-downloads-found-on-google-play-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/472575-malware-apps-with-over-2-million-downloads-found-on-google-play-store.html","title":{"rendered":"Malware apps with over 2 million downloads found on Google Play Store"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cybersecurity researchers at Dr Web antivirus have <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/news.drweb.com\/show\/review\/?lng=en&amp;i=14617\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">discovered<\/a><\/strong> a slew of new malware, adware, and phishing apps on the Google Play Store that have amassed over two million downloads.<\/p>\n<p>The apps masquerade as helpful utilities and system optimisers when instead, they contribute to degraded performance and user experience and allow ads to infiltrate the Android operating system.<\/p>\n<p>One such example is an app called TubeBox \u2014 which was still available on the Google Play Store yesterday, Sunday, 4 December 2022.<\/p>\n<p>TubeBox alone accumulated more than a million downloads. The app has since been removed from the store.<\/p>\n<p>TubeBox promises monetary rewards for watching videos and ads using the app but fails to deliver on these promises. It presents a range of errors when trying to redeem rewards.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Web listed several other malicious apps available on the Google Play Store, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bluetooth device autoconnect (1 million downloads)<\/li>\n<li>Bluetooth &amp; Wi-Fi &amp; USB driver (100,000 downloads)<\/li>\n<li>Volume, Music Equaliser (50,000 downloads)<\/li>\n<li>Fast Cleaner &amp; Cooling Master (500 downloads)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These apps receive commands via Firebase Cloud Messaging, causing them to load websites that display ads on infected devices.<\/p>\n<p>The Fast Cleaner &amp; Cooling Master app can also configure infected devices to act as proxy servers, allowing malicious actors to push their own traffic through the device.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Web also found various scam loan apps that claim to have a direct link with Russian banks and investment groups. The apps average 10,000 downloads each.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2 class=\"my-4\">Now read: <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/software\/472401-discord-launches-server-subscriptions-lets-creators-charge-up-to-r3500-a-month.html\" rel=\"bookmark\">Discord launches server subscriptions, lets creators charge up to R3,500 a month<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The degrade performance and user experience on Android devices and push fraudulent ads to the user.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":461704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[397,10486,9557,63415],"class_list":["post-472575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-android","tag-dr-web","tag-google-play-store","tag-malicious-apps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472575"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472603,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472575\/revisions\/472603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}