If Any Of These Apps Are Installed On Your Phone, Uninstall Them Now
Google has been playing whack-a-mole with various iterations of the Joker malware for over a year now.
If you’re unfamiliar with Joker, it is a particularly sneaky piece of malware that’s been circulating in apps delivered via the Google Play Store to Android devices.
Typically, a small piece of software — that is but one component of Joker — is injected into the advertising framework or hidden in another part of an app.
And when the user runs that app, if the user’s information, carrier network, and device meet certain criteria, another component of Joker kicks-in and downloads a more nefarious payload.
When that payload is executed, Joker hides in the background on a device and silently spies on the user, stealing their contact lists, SMS messages, and other identifying data stored on the device.
In addition, Joker mimics user interactions on premium advertising and subscription-based services, and leverages its access to SMS and other personal data to secretly sign people up for paid services.
Since it was first discovered, security researchers and Google have found numerous variants of Joker.
When that happens, Google is usually quick to pull the affected apps from the Play Store and any parties involved will publish their findings.
A couple of days ago, researchers in cloud security company Zscaler’s ThreatLabz team identified 17 new apps carrying Joker, which Google quickly removed from the Play Store. Those apps included:
All Good PDF Scanner
Mint Leaf Message-Your Private Message
Unique Keyboard — Fancy Fonts & Free Emoticons
Tangram App Lock
Direct Messenger
Private SMS
One Sentence Translator — Multifunctional Translator
Style Photo Collage
Meticulous Scanner
Desire Translate
Talent Photo Editor — Blur focus
Care Message
Part Message
Paper Doc Scanner
Blue Scanner
Hummingbird PDF Converter — Photo to PDF
Needless to say, if you have any of these applications on your phone, you should remove them immediately, run an anti-malware app to scan your device, ensure your device is updated and fully patched, and check permissions to see if any questionable apps have permission to access your SMS messages, contact list, etc.
Zscaler says, “We recommend paying close attention to the permission list in the apps that you install on your Android device.
Always watch out for the risky permissions related to SMS, call logs, contacts, and more. Reading the comment or reviews on the app page also helps identify compromised apps.”
Because Joker is continually evolving and only grabs additional components when devices / users meet certain criteria, it is particularly difficult to nail down and continues to slip through Google’s app screening process.
Hopefully, with these latest findings, and continual disclosures from other security researchers, Joker’s spread will be slowed and eventually stopped.
For now though, users should be mindful of the apps they install and deny permission to any personal data unless absolutely certain the app is reputable, clean and needs it to function.
Source/www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/
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Update Play Services — Info & Fix errors
This error message started showing up for Android users. So we looked into it and here are a few solutions below to fix this play services issue.
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By performing Ram boosting can speed Up your device, optimize ram size in a short time and increase battery life.
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A short way to manage your all essential setting and information, that can be performed easily.
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Date and time setting
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