43 unwanted Android apps have been infiltrated into the Google Play Store and 2.5 million users have already installed them. Once on the device, this software began to display advertisements, and it did this with the display turned off, thus consuming battery power.
The McAfee Mobile Research Team drew attention to dubious programs, after which they immediately reported them to Google - there was a violation of Play Store policies on the face.
App authors positioned them in the store as news aggregators and streaming software. However, experts admit that adware can be disguised as software of any category.
The main problem with such programs is that they significantly affect the battery life of the mobile device. In addition, the user may experience increased traffic and additional costs.
In the McAfee report, the researchers say developers have hidden adware directly in various music downloaders, calendars, news apps, and TV players.
After being installed on a smartphone, the applications waited for several weeks, and only then they activated malicious activity. As a result, the user could not always associate strange behavior with the installation of this particular software.
The configuration of these adware can be managed remotely using Firebase Storage or Messaging. By the way, malware also asks the owner of the mobile device to add them to the list of exceptions for the battery saver function.
The latter is necessary for applications in order to display ads when the display is off.
The McAfee Mobile Research Team drew attention to dubious programs, after which they immediately reported them to Google - there was a violation of Play Store policies on the face.
App authors positioned them in the store as news aggregators and streaming software. However, experts admit that adware can be disguised as software of any category.
The main problem with such programs is that they significantly affect the battery life of the mobile device. In addition, the user may experience increased traffic and additional costs.
In the McAfee report, the researchers say developers have hidden adware directly in various music downloaders, calendars, news apps, and TV players.
After being installed on a smartphone, the applications waited for several weeks, and only then they activated malicious activity. As a result, the user could not always associate strange behavior with the installation of this particular software.
The configuration of these adware can be managed remotely using Firebase Storage or Messaging. By the way, malware also asks the owner of the mobile device to add them to the list of exceptions for the battery saver function.
The latter is necessary for applications in order to display ads when the display is off.
