Google Removes 16 Malicious Apps from Play Store; Find List Here
Google regularly removes malicious apps from the Play Store. This time it has removed 16 apps that were infected with the Joker malware.
Zscaler ThreatLabZ researchers discovered these Joker malware apps. Even after regularly monitoring these apps always find a way to land up on the Google Play Store. Zscaler security researcher Viral Gandhi shared in a blog; these apps can steal SMSs, contacts details, device information, and even make users sign up for premium wireless application protocol (WAP) services.
These 16 apps discovered have 120,000 downloads, and most of them were scanner apps. There were a few messaging apps and photo editors also. Once it was notified about these apps, Google removed them from the Play Store. One can no longer download these apps, but if you have them on your device, you must uninstall them immediately.
Find the list of malicious apps that Google deleted from Play Store:
All Good PDF Scanner
Blue Scanner
Care Message
Desire Translate
Direct Messenger
Hummingbird PDF Converter - Photo to PDF
Meticulous Scanner
Mint Leaf Message-Your Private Message
One Sentence Translator - Multifunctional Translator
Part Message
Paper Doc Scanner
Private SMS
Style Photo Collage
Talent Photo Editor - Blur focus
Tangram App Lock
Unique Keyboard - Fancy Fonts & Free Emoticons
Google has been continuously working on filtering out these malicious apps, which comes under a unique category called 'Bread'. Despite Google's efforts, a new variant of the Joker malware is developed which manages to bypass the Play Store's security. Google notified earlier this year, about the malware and announced that it had removed 1,700 apps infected by it so far. This year more apps with the Joker malware were discovered and removed from the Play Store.