Category Archives: Google Play Store

State-sponsored Iranian hackers uploaded fake VPN app to Google’s Play store, posed as university officials

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Suspected government-backed hackers from Iran have used an array of techniques, from password theft to uploading a fake app to a prominent app marketplace, to try gathering intelligence from targets over the past year, Google said in a bulletin published Thursday. The espionage group APT35, also known as Charming Kitten, last year successfully uploaded to Google’s Play Store an app that masqueraded as a virtual private network service, claiming the tool would safeguard user data. In fact, the apparent VPN program functioned as spyware, collecting call logs, text messages, contacts and location data from affected devices. Google said in an Oct. 14 update that it detected the program “quickly” and removed it before any downloads occurred. The surveillance app marks an update to existing APT 35 tactics. The group is best known for reportedly targeting email accounts associated with former President Donald Trump’s election campaign in 2020 and espionage around […]

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Microsoft is discontinuing its Office apps for Chromebook users in favor of web versions 

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Since 2017, Microsoft has offered its Office suite to Chromebook users via the Google Play store, but that is set to come to an end in a few short weeks. As of Sept. 18, Microsoft is discontinuing support for Office, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, on Chromebook. Microsoft is not, however, abandoning […] Continue reading Microsoft is discontinuing its Office apps for Chromebook users in favor of web versions →

Barcode scanner in Google Play Store became malware after years of popularity, researchers say

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An app with more than 10 million downloads from the Google Play Store recently took a hard turn to the dark side, according to antivirus company Malwarebytes. The Barcode Scanner app had appeared in the store for years, but in December it became clear that it “had gone from an innocent scanner to full on malware,” writes Nathan Collier, a researcher for the Silicon Valley company. Malwarebytes said Google Play removed the app in early December after users reported that it was opening the default web browsers on phones to serve up ad pages — without any direct action by the device owners themselves. The company is labeling the malicious code as a trojan. “It is frightening that with one update an app can turn malicious while going under the radar of Google Play Protect,” Collier writes. The researcher makes a clear distinction: There are many ways apps can go […]

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Cyberpunk 2077 Headaches Grow: New Spyware Found in Fake Android Download

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Threat actors impersonate Google Play store in scam as Sony pulls the game off the PlayStation store due to myriad performance issues. Continue reading Cyberpunk 2077 Headaches Grow: New Spyware Found in Fake Android Download→

Google launches Android Enterprise Essentials, a mobile device management service for small businesses

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Google today introduced a new mobile management and security solution, Android Enterprise Essentials, which, despite its name, is actually aimed at small to medium-sized businesses. The company explains this solution leverages Google’s experience in building Android Enterprise device management and security tools for larger organizations in order to come up with a simpler solution for […] Continue reading Google launches Android Enterprise Essentials, a mobile device management service for small businesses→

Baidu apps in Google Play Store left users vulnerable to tracking, Palo Alto finds

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A pair of Baidu applications on the Google Play Store were recently leaking users’ sensitive data that could be used to track users’ location, according to Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 research published Tuesday. Through reverse-engineering, the researchers at Unit 42, the research arm at Palo Alto Networks, found that both the Baidu Search Box and Baidu Maps applications used a software development kit (SDK) that would collect users’ MAC address, carrier information and international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number. It’s the kind of data that, if it were to fall into the wrong hands, could be used to stalk, monitor, or even harass an individual. IMSI numbers, for instance, could allow cybercriminals or state-linked actors to track someone, even if they switch to a new device, as IMSI numbers can be used to uniquely identify a user. Snoops using IMSI catchers, which imitate cell towers to capture a user’s location, have been known […]

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Another ‘Minecraft’ lesson for kids: Beware of deceitful adware apps

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Part of the appeal of “Minecraft” is that the in-game experience is highly customizable with thousands of bits of third-party software. For mobile versions of the game, those “mods” can be downloaded as separate apps. If you pay attention to app-store security, you can probably guess where this is going, especially if you have kids. More than 20 of the “Minecraft” mods recently available in the Google Play Store didn’t do much for the game at all, and instead displayed ads on smartphones and tablets “in an extremely intrusive manner,” according to researchers at Kaspersky. The cybersecurity company says the store has taken down most of the apps since the researchers reported them, but a handful were still available as of Monday morning. Kaspersky’s findings are the latest reminder that mobile devices remain attractive targets for nuisance adware. And the makers of those sneaky apps aren’t really worried about customer […]

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