A Chinese company has 25 million Android devices tangled in an ad fraud scheme
A malicious software campaign tied to a Chinese internet company has exploited known vulnerabilities in Android mobile phones to infect roughly 25 million devices as part of a far-reaching ad fraud scheme, according to findings published Wednesday by Check Point. Hundreds of apps in a third-party Android marketplace disguised cocktails of malicious software that researchers say leveraged a number of known security issues to broadcast fraudulent advertisements. It’s only the latest example of near-daily revelations about apps acting in ways unwitting victims could not have anticipated — though this malicious activity is especially innovative. The programs — which mostly masqueraded as gaming, adult entertainment or photo apps — also contained code that allowed scammers to reach into legitimate apps that already existed on a victims’ phone, and commandeer those apps to broadcast advertisements. By displaying banner ads to so many users, the fraudsters could charge real advertisers for access to millions […]
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