This battery saving application steals information from your Android mobile

We start the news saying it loud and clear. Very rarely a mobile application will help you save battery. We have already talked in our house about the tricks that you can do to save time for autonomy (lower the brightness, close some heavy games in the background, remove the high-precision location...) and we assure you that none of them went through downloading any savings app. What's more, realize that the applications, in themselves, already suppose an expense to the phone.So isn't it a bit of a paradox that we're installing an app on our phones to save battery life?

Do not install this app under any circumstances, it is a dangerous virus

And we say all this because, once again, a virus has crept into the Google Play app store hidden in a battery saving app called Advanced Battery Saverand that, to this day, can still be downloaded from the Google Play Store. As you can see, this application does not contain more description than that it will improve the battery of your mobile. There is no information about its main tools or anything like that. If we search the Internet for information about the developer of the application, there is nothing beyond this application itself. Something really fishy.

The application has infected more than 60,000 terminals to date, according to what we can read on the Android Headlines website.It has been discovered by the specialized cybersecurity company RiskIQ thanks to one of its regular searches on the Internet. The application is installed on the terminals of those affected after they received a notice on their phone that we can see below, in which it is recommended to download an application to end the battery drain problems of, in this case, a Samsung terminal.

What is truly alarming about this fraudulent spam? That the user is not directed to any web service with additional fees, full of banners with adult content, but to a site as reliable and legitimate as Google Play. The application also did offer users what it promised. That is, it legitimately worked as a battery 'saver' ( although it is more than proven that this system not only does not save battery but can drain it even more).What the application does not warn is that, once installed, it leaves a 'back door' in which the user may be inadvertently providing information such as their phone number, location, device information, up to and including IMEI

As we said before, it is surprising that Google continues to support this application in the application store since it can still be found for download and installation. And especially when it does nothing, the Internet giant assured us that they were going to reinforce the security of their applications, both those that were within the store itself (also covered by Play Protect) and those that were downloaded through other repositories. to then be shared between connectionless terminals.

As we always advise you, store applications must be installed carefully. If you see that one asks you for strange permissions or, after installing it, something goes wrong in your terminal (strange windows appear, it behaves erratically), uninstall it immediately.And we repeat: a legitimate flashlight app will never ask you for permission to make a phone call. Think about it.