Google Play has about 2.7 million applications, while App Store has 1.8 million. Both Google and Apple have their own security systems to avoid apps with malware on their platforms, but cybercounts continue to find the way of skipping restrictions.
Google and Apple stores have eliminated up to 20 applications after discovering that some of them had malware. Cybercriminals They have distributed this virus for almost a year accessing user data.
Kaspersky’s cybersecurity researchers have discovered the gap in Google Play and App Store. The malware called Sparkcat It has been distributed among thousands of users since March last year.
An alleged nutrition application used in the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia made all alarms jump. Kaspersky’s team has analyzed thousands of apps from Google and Apple stores and have discovered another 19 with malware. Infected apps have been downloaded more than 242,000 times only through Play Store.
Applications with sparkcat record the mobile screen
Kaspersky has alerted the danger of these applications infected with users. Cybercriminals use the optical recognition of characters (OCR), a code with which to capture visible text on the device screen.
Sparkcat It has gone further and allows you to scan the text of the image gallery. Malware can extract sensitive information from users such as messages and passwords through screenshots.
Cybercriminals They can access the keys noted on mobile phones or save credentials after user registration. You can also search for keywords to skip the bank’s security or cryptocurrencies with the classic recovery phrases. Malware operates in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
Here you can check the complete list of affected apps. Apple has retired them from the app store last week after receiving the report from the researchers, and Google has not taken to follow their example.
«All identified applications have been eliminated from Google Play and its developers have been blocked,» said Ed Fernández, Google spokesman, to TechCrunch.
Android users are more protected
Google has warned that the security function known as Google Play Protect has prevented applications from being discharged massively in Android devices. The company’s spokesman has confirmed that this service is activated by default in mobile phones with Google Pay Services.
Rosemarie Gonzales, spokesman for Kaspersky, has warned that Sparkcat Keep active. This malware It is still distributed in unofficial application stores and some third -party download websites.
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Tags: Malware, Virus, Google Play