Adware-Ridden Apps in Google Play Infect 30 Million Android Users

silversurfer

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Aug 17, 2014
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Google Play has removed up to 50 apps that once downloaded plagued systems with full-screen ads.

More than 50 malicious apps have been discovered on the Google Play app marketplace, peddling adware to millions of Android victims.

The 50 adware apps, which have been since removed, include fitness, photoshopping and gaming apps, and were installed a total of 30 million times, researchers at Avast said in a Tuesday analysis.

“The adware applications are linked together by the use of third-party Android libraries which bypass the background service restrictions present in newer Android versions,” researchers said in a post. “The applications in this article used the libraries to keep displaying more and more ads to the user, which is against Play store rules.”

Names of the apps that have been removed from Google Play include: Chess Battle, Connect the Dots, Easy Pics Cutter, Magic Gamepad – Stress Releaser & Boredom Blocker, Pro Photo Blur, Free Watermark Camera 2019, Magic Cut Out and more. A full list of screenshotted apps can be found here.
 

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