There are more and more people who doubt the different capabilities of the smartphone. Can he hear us? Can he see us without our knowledge? Can it take some of our personal information without our knowledge? Well, actually the answer is no but what about apps?
Smartphones do not have this capability. However, some applications can, without our knowledge, spy on our daily life or use our personal data.
In fact, computer security researchers from Human Security managed to find a total of 89 applications. Apps hiding adware in Play Store and App Store.
It seems that iPhones, as well as telephones Android, are affected by this issue. Thus, experts have identified 80 Android applications in the Play Store and 9 iOS applications in the App Store. We tell you everything!
Apps offered by scammers
The researchers were keen to explain the process. The applications concerned have been put online as part of an operation. This unofficial operation is called Scylla and aims to generate significant revenue quickly and without disturbing users who might uninstall the application.
In order to generate such large sums of money, cyber criminals have to use malware. This software invades user’s screen with advertisements.
However, advertisements may appear at any time, whether during use or even when the screen is locked.
This is a rather aggressive strategy. However, it is essential to the technique of these fraudsters.
Each fraud scheme is a race against time for the malicious actor: Fraudsters have a limited time to reap sufficient profits and recoup development and deployment costs first, researchers say.
Ad Fraud on Play Store and App Store
This ad fraud attack has been evolving since 2019, according to Human Security. The researchers decided to name this fraud Poseidon. Thus, the adware managed to sneak into the code of many Android apps on the Play Store.
In order to break into the apps, the malefactors flooded the victims with advertisements without their knowledge. Several fraud techniques are used to reach an almost imperceptible level. First, developers manage to manipulate advertisers.
To do this, they pass off their applications as legitimate and very popular solutions. The investigation explains that malicious actors code their apps to impersonate other apps.
Once the victims get trapped, they show the ads when the user cannot see them. So ads appear when the screen is locked, for example.
Sometimes advertisements appear invisibly in the background of an app. This is an obvious waste of time for advertisers. These advertisements, displayed without the knowledge of the victim, are nevertheless counted in the results of the application. Thus, the criminals earn significant revenue from these fake results.
The list of Android and iOS applications
During the investigation by Human Security, researchers discovered that some applications hide adware. These criminals managed to accumulate over 13 million installs.
Thus, many victims did not even know that they were affected by this fraud. And this, knowing that the majority of advertisements are displayed as soon as the screen is idle.
It should be noted that the two application stores, the App Store and the Play Store, quickly banned the applications. It is therefore impossible to install them now.
However, you still have to check that they are not on your smartphones. This is true that you have a smartphone Apple or Android.
The 9 iOS apps
Researchers found 9 apps on Apple’s processor, iOS. The apps to uninstall as soon as possible are as follows. Loot the Castle, Run Bridge, Shinning Gun and Racing Legend 3D. As well as Rope Runner, Wood Sculptor, Fire-Wall, Ninja Critical Hit and finally Tony Runs.
There are 80 of them on the Play Store
Top 20 Apps
The Play Store seems to be much more affected by adware. It turns out that 80 applications are affected by the fraud.
These include Super Hero-Save the world!, Arrow Coins, Parking Master, Lady Run, and Magic Brush 3D. As well as Shake Shake Sheep, Number Combination: Colored Chips, Jackpot Scratcher-Win Real, Scratch Carnival and Ztime: Earn cash rewards easily.
Or Billionaire Scratch, Lucky Wings – Lotto Scratcher, Lucky Star: Lotto Scratch, Shake Shake Pig and Lucky Money Tree. And Run And Dance, Lucky Scratchers: Lotto Card, Pull Worm, Crowd Battle: Fight the bad guys and Shoot a dummy – Earn rewards and Paypal money. These applications represent only 20 of the 80 Android applications affected.
The other 40
There is also Spot 10 Differences, Find 5 Differences – New, Dinosaur Legend, One Line Drawing and Shoot Master. Or Talent Trap – NEW, Shoot It: Pistol, Super Snowflake, Five Star Slice, and Sand Drawing. Also, Mr. Dinosaur: Play your Dino, Track Sliding New, Beat Kicker New, Fill Color 3D and Draw Live. As well as Draw 1 Stroke, Fidget Cubes, Girls Fight, Ninja Assassin and Shooting Puzzle 2020.
However, the list is far from complete. There is also Pulley Parkour, Chop Flake 3D, Weapon Fantasy, Balloon Shooter and Musical Shoot. Or Chop Slices, Ninja Slice, Work Now!, Bottle Jump and Corn Scraper. Other apps like Idle Wood Maker, Pop Girls Schooler, Romy Rush, Spear Hero and Dig Road Balls. Or BOO Popstar, Draw Complete, Rush 2048：3D Shoot Cubes, Meet Camera and Auto Stamp Camera.
The last 20 applications affected by the adware
We can finally see the end of the list of applications affected by this fraudulent operation. Indeed, the last 20 applications to uninstall as soon as possible are: Find Five Differences, MUFC, Roll Turn, Hidind Draw and Peter Shoot. Also Design n Road, Draw Complete, Thief King, Downhill Race and Draw a War.
Also, Rescue Master, Spin:Letter Roll, Helicopter Attack – NEW, Crush Car and Relx cash are in danger. And finally, the last five apps to uninstall are War in Painting, Bike Extreme Racing, Player Spiral Maker 3D, Match 3 Tiles, and 2048 Merge Cube – Win Cash.