Tech

these hackers hid malware in 60,000 fake apps on Android

According to BitDefender, at least 60,000 applications for Android are in fact adware. The figure is impressive and suggests that billions of smartphone users are actors, unwittingly of course, in a vast campaign aimed at generating advertising revenue.

smartphone-android-young-man
Credit: 123rf

From October 2022, according to analysts at BitDefender, hackers have started a massive campaign targeting Android smartphone users. She encourages them to download one of the 60,000 applications containing adware. The latter is most often used to redirect to sites infested with advertising banners. A wild posting that generates revenue for hackers. The latter must reap a lot of revenue, because given its magnitude, this campaign is most certainly automated.

To read — Bank fraud: scammers claim to protect you against scams to empty your account

According to BitDefender, the new real-time monitoring feature of Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android helped unmask the malware, which otherwise could have remained undetected for many more months. The risk is all the stronger as it is hidden in tens of thousands of fake applications distributed around the world. While it primarily targets US users, the French are far from immune : the malware is offered to them in about 1500 different apps.

Android: more than 60,000 fake apps install malware on your smartphone

To bait their victims, hackers make up their adware in the guise of legitimate apps such as Netflix, YouTube or TikTok without ads. Sometimes they still offer illegal applications for download (cracks for paid games and programs and other fake VPNs). These apps are available on unofficial sites outside the Play Store.

Whether adware is not the worst form of malware, they are nonetheless annoying. Moreover, he is not not impossible that these applications change their behavior and become even more dangerous. According to experts, hackers “could easily switch tactics to redirect users to other types of malware that steal banking information or ransomware.”

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *