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TechInAfrica – Google Play Store has deleted 85 Adware-infected apps that include gaming, camera, and photo editing apps. This action was taken after the recent revelation by the security firm, Trend Micro. Trend Micro found that the apps were contributing to ad fraud delivering adware which cost businesses up to $10 million of losses as reported last year.
Trend Micro said that these apps display ads that are difficult to close and use certain technics to dodge detection through time-based triggers and user behavior. After 30 minutes downloading, the apps would make their icons hidden while at the same time create a shortcut on the home screen. As a result, it is hard to uninstall them by dragging or dropping the icon.
According to Trend Micro, the apps used Java reflection to bypass detection and will display full-screen ads once they were launched. It would not allow you to close the ad until you watched it entirely.
Furthermore, fraudsters can set the ads remotely, including how often they would be displayed on devices with adware-laden apps. Often times, the ads were displayed more frequently than the usual five-minute interval.
The 85 Adware-infected apps include:
- Camera Apps: 361 Camera, Cherry Camera, Connect Smash, Magic Camera, Meet Camera, Panda Camera, Super Camera, Seals Camera, Stylish Camera, Mirth Cam, Easy Camera, Perfect Camera, Fashion Camera, Face Camera, QR Code Scanner, Fancy Camera, and Selfie Dog.
- Editing Apps: Blur Master, Background Changer, Background Eraser, Video Cut, and Quick Blur
- Gaming Apps: Color House, Draw 1 Line, Tiy Smash, One Stroke Drawing, Jelly Crush, One-Line Draw Puzzle Stroke, Find Differences, Toy Blast, and Checkers Box.
To know the full list of the 85 Adware-infected apps, you can click here. Most of them had bad reviews on the Play Store, the sign of red flags for users who want to download the apps.
Source: techweez.com
