A total of 12 malicious Android apps on the Google Play Store are stealing account details people's bank accounts, and these apps have been downloaded 300,000 times, according to researchers at ThreatFabric.
In a blog post, cybersecurity experts pointed out that such apps only introduce malware content through third party sources after being downloaded from Google Play store.
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Malicious Android apps on the Google Play store identified by researchers included QR Scanner, QR Scanner 2021, PDF Document Scanner Free, PDF Document Scanner, Two Factor Authenticator, Protection Guard, QR CreatorScanner, master scanner live, CryptoTracker It is Gym and Fitness Trainer.
Researchers say these apps are part of four malware families – Anatsa, Alien, Hydra, Ermac – which are designed to steal users' bank passwords as well as two-way authentication codes factors. The malware even captures what you type and takes screenshots of users' phones.
The Anatsa malware family, according to the report, has been downloaded over 100,000 times. It should be noted that such apps have positive reviews on the Google Play Store, which would make them seem more legit.
Google tried to solve the problem by introducing various restrictions to apprehend the distribution of rogue applications. But, what makes these apps difficult to detect is that they have a very small malicious footprint, which is not detected by the Google Play Store.
“These apps lure users in by offering additional content through third-party updates. In some cases, malware operators are said to have manually triggered malicious updates after tracking the geographic location of infected devices,” the researchers added.
Earlier, in 2020, the Joker trojan found its way into the Google Play Store, affecting users by subscribing them to paid subscriptions without their consent.
However, there are steps you can take to avoid accidentally installing malware on your device. The most important thing in this case is to download effective antivirus software, which can scan each newly downloaded application and monitor it for any suspicious activity.
