Security researchers from Dr. Web have discovered in their latest study that many of the applications hosted in the Google Play Store were loaded with adware and info stealing malicious software.
The most concerning info about these apps is the fact that some applications also have the potential to steal information from other apps such as OTPs received on Gmail or the SMS app on an android phone.
Although Google has been doing a clean-up from time to time, some apps have can creep out of its sight and remain concealed in the network.
One such app that has been discovered and marked as dangerous is a PIP Pic Camera Photo Editor app that has been downloaded over a million times and can steal credentials from Facebook accounts.
Other apps that have turned suspicious include Wild & Exotic Animal Wallpaper, Female Face Filter- an app that beautifies female faces, an app in the name of Sim tool Kit and Magnifier Flashlight that have over 500,000 n 200,000 and 10,000 downloads, respectively.
It was found in the research carried out by Dr. Web that some horoscope apps and those related to dating were stealing sensitive details from Facebook that include images, videos and posts posted on the world’s first social networking website.
The Alphabet Inc’s subsidiary has released a security bulletin early this week claiming to have flagged most of the apps that were being detected to be malicious. However, it is also urging its users to download apps on android platforms only from authenticated resources.
