Android malware: These 47 apps from the Play Store should be removed immediately

The malware in question and how it works was discovered by researchers from security company Avast. There are 47 of these seemingly harmless applications hiding behind popular games. The way they work is quite dangerous and resembles that of Trojan horses. Once installed, They flood victims’ smartphones with intrusive ads.

Google is quite strict about the rules for advertising in Play Store apps. Secondly, it can only display ads when they are on, with fine-grained control over duration and repetition. However, some malicious apps choose to break all the rules and therefore fall into the category of malware or adware advertising.

In this case, 47 applications targeted advertising posts in different menus of Android smartphones and even inside other applications. Ad types deemed appropriate by Google out of contextAvast also explains that all identified applications have the following features: Hide icons It becomes invisible on the home screen and in the Android app drawer.

17 out of 47 apps are still available on the Play Store

Avast claims to be cooperating with Google on the issue. The Mountain View firm has already removed most of the affected apps from the Play Store, but 17 of them are still available in storebeware of researchers who urge users to be careful. You can find a list of the 47 relevant applications and their download numbers at the end of the article.

If you have one of these apps installed on your smartphone, you will need to uninstall it manually. Android Settings > Apps. Finally, to avoid this type of malware, Avast recommends that you always pay attention to the ratings and reviews of each app before installing it. User feedback is generally negative.

Also, developers offering such apps use multiple accounts and publish only one app at a time on each profile to prevent easy identification, so pay attention to the developer profile when downloading an app.