Another day, another bad news for Google.
The search giant of the web is already experiencing hard times dealing with malware-ridden apps on its Play Store. And here, according to a post by researchers at Wandera, two apps were found to have "more advanced functionality than your average adware."
The apps in question are: Sun Pro Beauty Camera and Funny Sweet Beauty Selfie Camera, both of which have a combined downloads of more than 1.5 million.
"Adware enables authors to make money from affected devices and while it is typically regarded as more of a nuisance than a severe threat, these particular apps have more advanced functionality than your average adware."
The researchers got a heads up after finding that the two apps have negative reviews on Google Play.
While this is not always an indicator of a bad app that has a primary objective of stealing data or carrying out other malicious activities rather than providing good user experience, but bad reviews can certainly raise suspicions.
Initially after breaking down the apps and their codes, the researchers found that the APKs of both apps are packed with a Chinese packer, Ijiami. This method is often used to protect APKs from being analyzed by third-parties. This too, isn't a clear indicator of ill intent.
But after discovering that the two apps in question were requesting unusually more permissions than needed, the researchers raised the alarm.
For example, they require their users to allow the apps to record audio without users' consent, and serve full-screen ads even when the apps are not in use.
According to the researchers, the apps‘ functionality is similar to a number of photography and gaming apps discovered by Trend Micro in August, which displayed ads that were difficult to close and employed “unique techniques to evade detection through user behavior and time-based triggers.”
The report also comes close after a similar research discovered four VPN apps, that bombarded users' devices with fraudulent ads, even when they were running the background.
Fortunately, Google has removed the Sun Pro Beauty Camera and the Funny Sweet Beauty Selfie Camera app.
A quick move by Google following the researchers report. But still indicating that Play Store is plagued with malicious malware from bad actors.
Although Google Play Protect has “detected and removed malicious developers faster,” and removed many bad apps. But Google seems to be pretty powerless when it comes to protecting users from similar patterns of harmful apps.
Google has failed numerous times in protecting its billions of Android users from lurking threats
The researchers at Wandera suggest users to always check for apps' required permissions before downloading, remove apps if they're found to be suspicious or malicious, and always be cautious about security apps, even if they are downloaded from official stores.
Further reading: In July 2019 Alone, Google Play Had 205 Malicious Apps With Over 32 Million Installs