Google Play Store: Quickly uninstall these 11 Android apps, they’re spying on millions of users!

Almost a week passes without a team of computer security researchers reporting a disturbing new discovery for Android users. Only in March 2022, we remember those fake Android antiviruses that can steal your money and even these very popular apps in Play Store and App Store which are actually scams.

We owe today’s disclosure to computer security researchers from AppCensus. These experts discovered the existence of 11 malicious apps on the Google Play Store specifically that can spy on users without their knowledge. What is worrisome in this case is the number of downloads accumulated by these apps: more than 60 million. Lots of potential victims. List of affected apps:

• Speed ​​Camera Radar
• Al-Moazin Lite (Prayer Times)
• Wi-Fi Mouse (Remote Control for PC)
• QR and Barcode Scanner (developed by AppSource Hub)
• Qibla Compass – Ramadan 2022
• Simple Weather and Clock Widget (developer of Difer)
• Text with Handcent Next SMS-MMS
• SmartKit 360
• Al Quran MP3 – 50 Readers and Translation Audio
• Full Quran MP3 – 50 Languages ​​and Translation Audio
• Audiosdroid Sound Studio DAW

Also read: Android – Google will better protect users against unused apps

These apps can collect your GPS data

As you can see, this list is quite eclectic among QR Code readers, weather apps, messaging, as well as apps dedicated to the practice of Islam. According to the researchers, these malicious apps housed malware that could collect various data from victims’ smartphones, such as email address, phone numbers, and certain passwords. GPS location history.

Worryingly, a dubious company called Measurement Systems has apparently paid a fortune to collect this precise data via an SDK (software development kit) integrated into the aforementioned apps. The company did not want to answer questions from our colleagues from the Wall Street Journal.. After the AppCensus research was published, Google removed the affected apps from the Play Store.

However, they have just returned to the app store. If you suspect that Google is now ensuring they are safe, If you have downloaded it, we invite you to delete these apps immediately. before AppCensus researchers discovered them.

Source: Wall Street Magazine