Over 600 million harmful or virus-filled apps were downloaded by Android users from Google’s Play Store in 2023 alone, according to a new analysis released by cybersecurity and anti-virus company Kaspersky. New techniques have been developed by malicious developers to go beyond Google’s security measures.
Here discussed about Google’s Error for 600 million malicious apps downloaded from google’s play store in 2023:
The cybersecurity and anti-virus behemoth Kaspersky has revealed that over 600 million malware downloads from Google’s Play Store occurred by Android users in 2023. This is a shocking finding. Despite Google’s strict security protocols, a sizable quantity of harmful content has made its way into the Play Store, endangering Android users greatly.
Malicious developers have reportedly developed new techniques to go over Google’s security measures, which gives them permission to list infected apps on the Google’s Play Store, according to Kaspersky’s analysis. The research identifies a number of malicious content and apps that were downloaded via the shop, such as fraudulent Minecraft clones, mini-game advertisements that gather user data, applications that provide financial incentives, and more.
The most common threat found by Kaspersky is related to dubious apps that have over 451 million downloads and in-app mini-game advertisements that collect user data. Among them, the research found a trojan called SpinOk that infected more than 100 apps on the app store by pretending to be in-app mini-games that offered rewards in exchange for user data.
More than 35 million apps were downloaded that were ad-filled clones of the popular game Minecraft, and over 100 million apps featured concealed adverts. The study noted that 38 Minecraft clones with concealed adware were discovered to be available on the Play Store in 2023, highlighting the game’s enormous appeal as a top target for malevolent players.
Over 20 million downloads were made of apps that offered financial benefits under false pretenses, frequently by impersonating activity and health trackers. The investigation also found that over 40 apps that had been downloaded 2.5 million times had background adware infections.
Despite their claims to the contrary, two file manager programs with a combined download count of 1.5 million were discovered to be secretly gathering user data. According to reports, these spyware apps were transferring private user data, including as contacts, location, images, audio, and video to servers in China.
Additionally, Google’s Play Store apps infected with the Fleckpe subscription Trojan were found by Kaspersky’s analysts. After being downloaded, these apps infected the user’s device with a malicious payload that gathered data about the country and mobile provider. The malware then utilized webpages that were fraudulently opened to trick users into subscribing to premium services.
The study also noted that an Android screen recording app called iRecorder received 50,000 downloads when it was added to the Google Play Store in 2021. Malicious code within the software caused a smartphone’s microphone to capture sound every fifteen minutes, transferring the recorded information to the creators’ server. This information emphasizes how urgently the Google’s Play Store needs to improve security procedures in order to protect Android users from the growing risk of malware downloads.