The official Google Play Store has been identified as the primary source of malware installs on Android devices in a recent academic study — considered the largest one of its kind carried out to date. From a report: Using telemetry data provided by NortonLifeLock (formerly Symantec), researchers analyzed the origin of app installations on more than 12 million Android devices for…
Tag: Android malware
Spying Concerns Raised Over Iran’s Official COVID-19 Detection App
Catalin Cimpanu, reporting for ZDNet: Google has removed an Android app from the official Play Store that was developed by the Iranian government to test and keep track of COVID-19 (coronavirus) infections. Before being removed from the Play Store, controversy surrounded the app, and several users accused the Iranian government of using the COVID-19 scare to trick citizens into installing the…
Google Could Have Fixed 2FA Code-Stealing Flaw in Authenticator App Years Ago
An anonymous reader shares a report: Last month, a cybersecurity firm discovered the first-ever Android malware that came with the capability to steal the 2FA (two-factor authentication) codes generated by the Google Authenticator app. The malware, discovered by researchers from ThreatFabric, was named Cerberus, and its 2FA OTP code-stealing feature was still under development, yet to have been detected in a…
Google Asks Three Outside Antivirus Firms To Start Scanning Submissions To Android’s Play Store
“Android has a bit of a malware problem,” argues Wired, noting that ” malware-ridden apps sneak into the official Play Store with disappointing frequency…” “After grappling with the issue for a decade, Google is calling in some reinforcements.” This week, Google announced a partnership with three antivirus firms — ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium — to create an App Defense Alliance. All…
Google Asks Three Mobile Security Firms To Help Scan Play Store Apps
Google announced today that it partnered with three private cyber-security firms — ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium — to start a new project called the App Defense Alliance. From a report: The purpose of this new project, Google said, was to unify malware and threat detection engines and improve the security scans that Android apps go through before being published on the…
New ‘Unremovable’ XHelper Malware Has Infected 45,000 Android Devices
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Over the past six months, a new Android malware strain has made a name for itself after popping up on the radar of several antivirus companies, and annoying users thanks to a self-reinstall mechanism that has made it near impossible to remove. Named xHelper, this malware was first spotted back in March but…