GOOGLE has banned two rogue Android apps designed to spy on users.>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
The tech giant scrubbed the apps after cybersecurity experts exposed their “malicious” code.
Both apps were designed to look like two popular chat services: Signal and Telegram.
But the dodgy apps – named Signal Plus Messenger and FlyGram – were actually created by cyber-criminals.
They were discovered by cybersecurity company ESET who said that the hacking campaign is linked to a “China-aligned” group.
“ESET researchers have identified two activecampaigns targeting Android users,” the company’s Lukas Stefanko wrote.
“Where the threat actors behind the tool are attributed to the China-aligned APT group GREF.
“Most likely active since July 2020 and since July 2022, respectively, the campaigns have distributed the Android BadBazaar espionage code through the Google
Play store, Samsung Galaxy Store, and dedicated websites.
“Representing the malicious apps Signal Plus Messenger and FlyGram.
“The threat actors patched the open-source Signal and Telegram apps for Android with malicious code that we have identified as BadBazaar.”
The apps are no longer available to download on the Google Play and Samsung Galaxy stores.
But if you’ve already downloaded them, it’s important to check and remove them.
According to ESET, the apps are designed to extract your data.
This could include your contact lists, call logs, Google Accounts and potentially even messages.
Users may have accidentally installed them thinking they were legitimate apps.
Both apps were based on the code of their real counterparts – but had been modified to spy on users.
To delete an app that you’ve installed, you’ll need to open the Google Play Store app.
Then go to the top-right and tap the profile icon.
Now tap Manage Apps and Devices > Manage.
Tap the name of the app that you can to delete, and then choose Uninstall.
If you’ve made a mistake, you can always add the app back to your phone.
If you bought it, reinstallation is totally free.
Some apps that come pre-installed with your Android phone are impossible to delete – but can often be “disabled”.>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE
