Google Removes 13 Malicious Apps From Play Store

Google has removed 13 Android apps from the Google Play after it was notified by security researchers that these apps made unauthorised downloads to the Android devices. The apps attempt to get root privileges, and when given, copy several device files to the system partition, leaving them untouched even after a factory reset.

The apps that have been removed include Cake Blast, Jump Planet, Honey Comb, Crazy Block, Crazy Jelly, Tiny Puzzle, Ninja Hook, Piggy Jump, Just Fire, Eat Bubble, Hit Planet, Cake Tower, and Drag Box.

The malicious apps were spotted by a security researcher named Chris Dehghanpoor from Lookout, a mobile security provider. He said Honeycomb, one of the 13 apps removed by Google, showed around a million downloads. The researcher said the apps besides boasting high download numbers, automatically gave positive app reviews on Google Play without user permission to further boost the downloads.

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-removes-13-malicious-apps-from-play-store-787184

 

Darn, that is a lot of apps and looks like mostly game apps if I am not mistaking!

I can't seem to leave a review on my apps at all on my iPhone. I really detest CBS and History apps because they locked the episodes and want you to subscribed for a fee of course. Why bother to have the apps made if they don't grant access to their users. Plus, they are just full of ads! They make so much money from showing the ads already, but greed still takes over.

 

They were saying the same about those flashlight apps... that most of them were malicious. So I'd be on the lookout for that kind of apps as well, because those cheaters are always adding new apps that they think most users will want to install. So low! As for those apps you mentioned... I find that so darn irritating! It's like a slap on the face.

 

Why does google play not have measure already in place for things like this, the way Apple seems too?

 

Those TV apps are really a waste of time and storage space so I removed them after I can't watch any series after the first two-three episodes. I think they want you to pay for the extra TV cable fees, and when you subscribed to it, you will get to watch. Many people now don't want to pay for television cable since it is a chunk of money you will have to pay out every month, and most channels are just junks channels.

 

@IcyBC Oh bummer! I actually don't want us to pay for cable TV, because in my country you only get junk channels with the cheapest package, if you want the truly good ones you need to pay more. In the Netherlands is different I love it! The cheapest package delivers almost all the channels I like. But sadly this is not the case in most countries.

 

@PingPongCall What disturbs me is the fact that most users think that only because an app is offered there it means it's completely safe. I made the same mistake when I just started using an Android phone.

 

This IS a measure, and Apple does things in a similar way. You cannot reasonably expect them to catch everything upfront. Considering how many apps are on the store this is actually a pretty low number to slip by. Not only can Google remove an app found to be malicious from the store, in many cases they can pull it from devices as well. I know it sucks, but it is just the reality of things.

Look at how much garbage is available to mess things up on Windows computers, Microsoft doesn't do nearly as much to stem the tide of malware as Apple or Google does, and there is far less of it for Android & iOS.

One thing people should never make the mistake of is believing that iOS or Android is more secure than the other. They are both essentially UNIX and Unix by design is inherently more secure than DOS (MS-DOS DR-DOS PC-DOS etc...) or Windows (All desktop, workstation and server versions for x86 and/or x86-64 platforms) or even alpha quality hobby systems like ReactOS.

 

Well....I mean if your gonna spin logic into this then fine. lol

 

@PingPongCall

 

It's so good that there are nice people to let google know that there was a problem with the auto downloads from some programs! Just today I got an alert from Microsoft techs today that there is a lot of spy ware attacks on this little netbook I borrowed so thing just happen too. When I had some security downloads for this netbook it had over 1000 issues with it. Had to call the security techs at Microsoft. Now I'm researching what to do next for my computer.

 

SCAM! Microsoft does not do this....

 

Really? But that's who they say they are. This is from the Microsoft Security Essential download. Maybe it's something new Microsoft has, what to do?

 

Good to know. I'm currently utilizing Windows Defender

 

Nobody from Microsoft will ever call you and tell you about security issues on your computer. This is a well known international con job. Criminals call and claim to be from Microsoft and want access to your computer. Also on a side note MSE and Defender are the lowest quality tools available for antivirus/anti-malware solutions. Literally ANY other free option is better.

 

I'm glad they got to the problems and removed them. I hope that doesn't happen again. I wonder how they slipped past in the first place?

 

It's a wonder that things like this still happen. Remember those Nigerian prince e-mails form years back? Sounds pretty similar to me.

 

Oh it'll happen again, it's only a matter of time and dedication to finding security exploits.