{"id":2725,"date":"2016-08-08T16:38:08","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T21:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/?p=2725"},"modified":"2016-09-20T15:53:32","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T20:53:32","slug":"google-bans-apps-secretly-download-malware-onto-android","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/google-bans-apps-secretly-download-malware-onto-android\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Bans Apps That Secretly Download Malware onto Android"},"content":{"rendered":"

You already know that malware is getting smarter every day. A somewhat common scenario is users downloading what looks like innocuous apps that then download malware. Recently, Google banned 13 apps available in the Google Play Store that were downloading malware onto a user\u2019s phone. These weren\u2019t obscure apps that users rarely found, but instead were well-reviewed and had been downloaded tens of thousands of times.<\/p>\n

Malware itself was what made these apps rank so highly in the store. This is how it worked. First, when a user downloaded what looked to be an innocent app, that app then downloaded a hidden malicious app onto the phone. This secondary download then boosted the download ranking of that app in the Google Play Store. Some of the apps even had the capacity to leave positive rankings on the malicious app\u2019s page without the user\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n

Read More: New Android Malware Mimics Common Apps<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of the apps burrowed even further into the user\u2019s device. These apps sought root privileges, or the ability to remain downloaded on the phone even if the user reset the phone to factory settings. By installing several files to the system, some of these apps could hang on even if the phone was completely rebooted.<\/p>\n

This removal of apps from such a prominent marketplace was the first of its kind. While other app families also work to achieve root privileges, they were found on third-party Android marketplaces, not something as widely used as Google Play.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a list of the malicious apps:<\/strong><\/p>\n