Google Play store is the main storage for all android apps but now a days it has become a challenge to protect its app. Whether they contain harmful viruses or not, but hackers are always a step ahead. A group of viruses which are embedded with different apps got into play store within these two years, which in return gained access to the user's phone.
In a study by antivirus provider Sophos, more than 20 apps with more than 2 million downloads were discovered on the Play Store, containing virus that allows them to download files from a hacker controlled-server.
These apps include non-description titles like Zombie Killer, Sparkle Flashlight, Table Soccer and have more than 1 million downloads since they appeared on the store in 2016. According to the antivirus provider Sophos, it was a year later in March this year that Sparkle Flashlight and 2 other apps were updated to include the malicious Virus that can provide the hacker to access to the user's phone. The other 19 apps were introduced to the Play Store with the background downloader at the start, sometime after June this year.
Google has removed these apps, but only by November this year. Before November attackers were using them to serve ads generating clicks to earn money. Once opened, these ads would run continuously in background without the knowledge of the user, even if tried to close forcefully, draining both Internet data and batteries.
Since these viruses provide connection to the hacker, they can also be used to force a smartphone to run harmful code, stealing a person’s data in the process.
While Google has deleted these malicious apps from its Google Play Store, the person that downloaded it before and is still using it is still getting infected.
So if you’ve downloaded any of these following apps, you need to remove immediately -
1) Sparkle Flashlight
2) Snake Attack
3) Math Solver
4) Shape Sorter
5) Tak A Trip
6) Magnifeye
7) Join Up
8) Zombie Killer
9) Space Rocket
10) Neon Pong
11) Just Flashlight
12) Table Soccer
13) Cliff Diver
14) Box Stack
15) Jelly Slice
16) AK Blackjack
17) Color Tiles
18) Animal Match
19) Roulette Mania
20) HexaFall
21) HexaBlocks
22) PairZap
