Malicious applications remain one of the most important problems in the mobile sector. Both Google and Apple have your own security measures to prevent the arrival of this type of applications to their official stores, Google Play Store and App Store, respectively, but neither of them has managed to completely stop them.
On this matter it is fair to recognize that, we like it more or less, Apple has a certain advantage Thanks to the particularities that the apple company establishes when it comes to regulating the entry and maintenance of applications in its official store. By this I mean that, in general, the Google Play Store is more affected by the arrival of malicious applications, a reality that has been noticed in the latest move by the Mountain View company.
Google has removed a total of 25 malicious applications that were present in their official app store. In the attached image you can find the complete list with the malicious applications that have been removed. It is estimated that, until now, all of them have reached two million downloads, which means that they could have affected a considerable number of users.
Why are they considered as malicious applications?
Well, it is very simple, because they all contain a type of malware that is specifically designed to steal the user’s credentials on Facebook. Is that how it works:
- The application waits for the user to open another one that has been created by Facebook (Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp).
- When it detects it, it opens a new browser tab with a Facebook login page, which is obviously completely false.
- To give a greater image of veracity, said page shows, at the top, the application that the user wanted to start.
- If the user falls into the trap and enters their access data, the malware present in the application copies them and sends them to a specific server.
Although it seems somewhat unsophisticated for the times, the truth is that this type of malicious applications they still work really well, since they know how to surround themselves with that “minimum” halo of credibility necessary for the user to get carried away and end up biting the hook. In this case also influences how problematic it is to do things by inertia and without stopping to think for a moment.
We must bear in mind that, in addition, in this case it was applications that were in the official Google store, and that accumulated many downloads and positive ratings, so nothing indicated to the user that they could be malicious.
If you have any of these applications installed you must proceed to delete it, and if you believe that the access credentials to your Facebook account may have been compromised you must proceed to change them (password and means of recovery).
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