Google removes 500 applications capable of installing viruses on your Android mobile

One of the main recommendations when avoiding the large number of threats that exist for Android is to do not download applications from unofficial sitesIt is, in fact, a good way to prevent malware from sneaking into our device.

But it seems that not even in official stores can we be one hundred percent sure that we will be safe from cybercriminals. This is what this news recently published by Ars Technica demonstrates.And it is that Google would have eliminated a whopping 500 applications from the Google Play Store. Which in turn would accumulate more than 100 million downloads worldwide.

The reason is directly related to a new malware threat. Because these applications would include a software development kit called Ixegin. This would be capable of operating as spyware.

A security company would have discovered the problem

Cybersecurity company Lookout has discovered that these applications contained a malicious version of an advertising SDK. That is, a software development kit (Software Development Kit).

This is explained by the following.Mobile apps, especially free ones, use SDKs that take advantage of ad networks to generate revenue. In this way, they can offer the applications for free. And customers, while using the game or app, are also consuming .

The problem is that, according to Lookout, the developers themselves have been fooled by an SDK called Ixegin. It could have spread the spyware and used it for malicious purposes.

500 apps have been removed from the Google Play Store

What Google has done when realizing the situation has been to remove the 500 applications from the Google Play Store. Next, has killed the malicious code to reintroduce them into the app marketplace.

The installation of this tailgate was a possibility.So it may not have been deployed as such in some applications. It is known, however, that the most problematic spyware that has been found on some of these computers has dedicated itself to executing various outrages.

Such as, steal call history (this would specifically include whether calls were placed or missed) or different GPS locations. Information about nearby WiFi networks would also have been stored. Or lists of all those applications installed on the computer.

Affected Applications

The complete list of applications that have been affected by this problem has not been disclosed. However, some names have been given.

In fact, researchers have discussed two very specific cases. The first is that of a photography app called SelfieCity. At the time the problem was detected had a total of five million downloads.

The second app mentioned in the Lookout report is LuckyCash. It would be an application downloaded more than three million times. Following Google's removal and subsequent corrections, the researchers themselves have confirmed that neither of these two applications poses any security issues at this time.

There are also other applications whose titles have not been revealed but, in the case of a game aimed at teenagers, had more than 50 million downloadsAlso included in this bag are weather and photo applications, with between 1 and 5 million downloads or an Internet radio application, with between 500,000 and 1 million downloads.

Other applications dedicated to education, he alth and fitness, travel or emojis had also been infected by Ixegin What Those responsible for this threat were seeking to create a pool of more than 100 million Android spy devices.All prepared to violate the privacy of millions of users and get rich at their expense.