Worrying news for Android users: More than half a million users have installed the Android malware, which is often used to generate games, through Google's own app store.
ESET security researcher Lukas Stefano, through a post on Twitter, exposed 13 game apps that were made by the same developer that had problems.
Together, these apps reached over 580.000 installs before Google removed the plug. People who downloaded the app were waiting for a car or truck driving game. However, what they ended up getting was a buggy app that crashed every time they opened it.
This was all because the app was downloading a payload from another domain, registered to an app developer in Istanbul, and installing malware behind the scenes, deleting the app icon in the process.
There is still no consensus on what the malware did. However, he knows that he is quite persistent, and that he had full access to network traffic.
Google spokesman Scott Westover said the apps "violated our policies and were removed from the Play Store".
It is worth mentioning that it is not today that Google faces criticism regarding its security approach against applications and mobile devices.
Google has been trying to beef up its Android security for years, including better security features and more granular app permission control. Even so, as we can see, the company needs to evolve a lot in this regard.
Source: TechCrunch
