Beware of Android Spyware Apps: 1.5 Million Users Already Affected

Spying and Hacking Apps Discovered on Android Phones

Introduction

A company specializing in information security has managed to discover two phone applications available for download on “Android” phones, and it turned out that they are nothing more than spying and hacking programs that steal personal and sensitive information, including bank details, but the problem is that the two applications have been removed from the store “Google Play”, after more than 1.5 million people have downloaded and used them.

Details of the Discovery

In the details published by the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, and viewed by “Agency”, experts were able to seize two applications that turned out to be spyware programs originating in China, and experts called users everywhere in the world to immediately delete these two applications in order to preserve data. The person on the phone.

The Threat to Users

The report states that more than 1.5 million Android phone users have downloaded these two applications from the Google Play Store, which are applications for spying, hacking, and data theft. “These users have become vulnerable to Chinese hackers,” the newspaper noted.

The Two Applications

The two applications mentioned above are (File Recovery & Data Recovery) and (File Manager), where it has urged cyber and cyber security experts to manually delete these applications from devices because they steal personal information.

Data Theft and Privacy Invasion

The data that gets hijacked includes contact lists, photos, videos, and location in user real time.

Actions Taken by Pradeo

Cybersecurity firm Pradeo discovered and reported the malicious apps to Google, and the tech giant has since promptly removed them, but more than 1.5 million users have already downloaded them to their mobile phones.

About the Developer

A person named “Wang Tom” appears as the developer of both applications and claims that they do not collect user data, however “Pradio” believed this to be a mistake based on deeper analysis. Pradio also revealed that the two apps hide home screen icons, making them harder to find and remove.

Data Compromised

Pradio has discovered that apps can copy contact lists linked to email and AI accounts socialwork and those stored on the device, and users’ photos, audio and videos are compromised, along with their location, country code mobile and name of thework provider.

The post Beware of Android Spyware Apps: 1.5 Million Users Already Affected appeared first on AsumeTech.

from Technology - AsumeTech https://asumetech.com/beware-of-android-spyware-apps-1-5-million-users-already-affected/