Malicious people have different methods to gain illegally. One of these methods is to gain advantage in ways that vary according to the method they choose, by publishing harmful applications that seem to be trouble-free. One of these methods is to use clicker software to generate advertising revenue.
In a blog post, McAfee revealed that some apps with a total of more than 20 million downloads to date also serve these purposes. In total, this malware was found in 16 applications.
Here are the apps that contain malware
- BusanBus (com.kmshack. BusanBus)
- Currency Converter (com.smartwho. SmartCurrencyConverter)
- EzDica (com.joysoft.ezdica)
- EzNotes (com.meek.tingboard)
- Flashlight+ (com.candlencom.candleprotest)
- Flashlight+ (com.dev.imagevault)
- Flashlight+ (kr.caramel.flash_plus)
- High-Speed Camera (com.hantor. CozyCamera)
- Instagram Profile Downloader (com.schedulezero.instapp)
- Joycode (com.joysoft.barcode)
- K-Dictionary (com.joysoft.wordBook)
- QuickNote (com.movinapp.quicknote)
- Smart Task Manager (com.james. SmartTaskManager)
Applications with clicker software are seemingly simple and useful tools. After a while, such applications allow to earn illegal income by running ads in the background in a way that the user does not see. This causes the battery to run out quickly and the hardware to be under more load.
In addition, it is possible to download other malicious software by sending notifications as if it is an Android update or another application update through these applications. This can cause different problems.
While McAfee announced that they informed Google and related parties about the issue, the applications were removed from the Google store.