The Wandera research team found 17 malicious applications on the App Store. This was reported by Forbes with reference to the website of the research group.
If you are surprised to believe that I confused the Apple app store with Google Play, then no. That's right: the App Store.
What applications?
Wandera experts counted seventeen applications:
RTO Vehicle Information;
EMI Calculator & Loan Planner;
File Manager – Documents;
Smart GPS Speedometer;
CrickOne – Live Cricket Scores;
Daily Fitness – Yoga Poses;
FM Radio PRO – Internet Radio;
My Train Info – IRCTC & PNR;
Around Me Place Finder;
Easy Contacts Backup Manager;
Ramadan Times 2019 Pro;
Restaurant Finder – Find Food;
BMI Calculator PRO – BMR Calc;
Dual Accounts Pro;
Video Editor – Mute Video;
Islamic World PRO – Qibla;
Smart Video Compressor.
All applications were developed by the Indian company AppAspect Technologies Pvt. Ltd. In total, she has 51 applications in the App Store, some of which are paid.
Wandera experts tested all the free applications, of which there were 35, and in 17 of them they found a clicker trojan.
What are they doing?
Malicious applications start services that are responsible for background processes. Wandera found clicker services in these applications. Actually, its name is responsible for itself – this process, regardless of the user, opens web pages, increasing website traffic. And Wandera considers him a trojan.
All applications communicate with the C&C server. According to the Dr. Web, it was used by the Android.Click.312.origin clicker Trojan on Android devices.
Why is it necessary?
The main reason is to cut down the loot on artificial views, increasing traffic. This is done on those resources where they get money for clicks.
What is harmful?
The main harm to the user is the traffic that the program uses. For some, this may not cost anything, but in some countries it can cost a pretty penny for the user.
Also, such clickers can ruin competitors by raising their advertising contracts to incredible heights.
Well, do not forget that such applications can steal your data and open backdoors on your device. For example, one application has access to contacts. The second is to location. The third can access the microphone, even without specific permissions.
What to do?
If you have any of these applications, then rather uninstall it. Apparently, it will be deleted along with the trojan.
But here's the problem: if one developer could take advantage of the loophole, then there are probably many more. Perhaps Wondera simply opened the tip of the iceberg, completely unaware that it was hiding behind the water surface. And here it’s not very clear what to do.
. (tagsToTranslate) news (t) app store (t) ios (t) trojans
Chief editor of the blog – Erika J. Wells .
