Android is the most popular mobile OS for smartphones, but that doesn’t mean that every app which is compatible with Android is safe. Even more concerning is that there are some dangerous Android apps on Google Play Store that can steal your money, according to a recent ESET report.
As reported by ESET, several cybercriminals managed to bypass Google Play Store’s security measures and upload dozens of apps packed with malware that can steal your money on Google’s Android apps store. According to ESET, these apps come as device cleaners, horoscope apps, and battery optimizers.
What more concerning regarding these malicious apps is that they are designed to send and receive SMS to and from the infected smartphones, which can bypass the two-factor authentication methods and grant access for the cybercriminals to internet banking apps or other private applications. Besides, the infected apps can download additional programs and ‘clone’ any other application that is already installed on the infected smartphones.
Dangerous Android Apps on Google Play Store Can Steal Your Money
“Fortunately, these particular banking Trojans do not employ advanced tricks to ensure their persistence on affected devices. Therefore, if you suspect you have installed any of these apps, you can simply uninstall them under Settings > (General) > Application manager/Apps,” ESET stated.
“We also advise you to check your bank account for suspicious transactions and consider changing your internet banking password/PIN code,” the IT security experts of ESET added.
According to ESET, we can avoid installing such malicious apps by only downloading Play Protect-verified apps from Google Play Store, having a trustworthy anti-malware software up and running on our devices, and always installing the latest Android security patches as soon as they roll out. In addition to all that, we shouldn’t install suspicious applications, including horoscope apps, unknown device cleaners, or low-profile battery optimizers, and we must only rely on apps with plenty of reviews and from trustworthy developers.
