In spite of being said and written extensively about the safety concerns around the apps on Google Play Store, the open-source platform has not been successful in controlling malware attacks. This has allowed harmful apps to find a way onto users' smartphones and compromise data.
It is true that Google drops certain apps from the platform on a regular basis, but again the new ones keep popping up. The latest to join the list is a keyboard app that can steal all your money! According to the researchers at mobile technology firm Upstream, a popular keyboard app called the ai.type keyboard. can rob its users.
The app has been found to subscribe to users to premium third-party services without notifying in the background, according to researchers. This means that the app has been making unauthorised transactions in the background and duping people of money. The researchers claim to have identified 14 million such requests and have blocked with their Secure-D platform.
These requests have come from just 110,000 devices that were under the scrutiny. Google had removed the app from its Play Store in June 2019, but it continues to find its way to smartphones. The app is still available for download on various third-party app stores on Android and various websites.
The researchers claim that the app started conducting more malicious activities after being blocked by Google. The app is also giving away user data such as clicks on website and purchase details to advertising networks.
So far the app has been installed on millions of devices.
"Innocent users are paying for these hidden, unauthorised purchases and related data consumption whose source is buried in the app," said Dimitris Maniatis, head of Secure-D at Upstream.
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