As many as 1.5 million Android users’ security and privacy are at danger because two file management applications available on the Google Play Store have been found to be spyware. These applications act dishonestly and covertly transmit private user information to malicious servers in China.
This ominous intrusion was discovered by Pradeo, a top mobile security firm.
According to the research, the same organisation is responsible for both spyware applications, File Recovery and Data Recovery, which has had over a million downloads, and File Manager, which has received over 500,000 downloads.
These ostensibly innocent Android applications, which activate automatically when the device reboots without user input, employ similar harmful techniques.
Both applications guarantee users that no data is taken, but Pradeo’s analytics engine has discovered that a variety of personal information is really gathered without users’ awareness. This is in contrast to what they say in the Google Play Store. Contact lists, media assets (pictures, audio files, and videos), real-time location, the mobile country code, information about the network provider, the SIM provider network code, the operating system version, and the device brand and model are among the stolen data types.
The volume of data that these spyware programmes send is particularly concerning. Each programme sends out more than one hundred times, which is a lot for harmful actions. Once the data has been gathered, it is transferred to several servers in China, which security experts consider to be harmful.
Even worse, the creators of these spyware programmes have employed cunning strategies to make them seem more trustworthy and make it challenging to remove them.
Hackers artificially raised the amount of app downloads using install farms or mobile emulators, giving the impression that the apps were more reliable. Additionally, both applications feature sophisticated permissions that enable them to conceal their icons on the home screen, making it hard for unwary users to delete them.
Pradeo offers security advice for both people and companies in light of this alarming finding.
When installing applications, users should exercise caution, especially if they claim to have a significant user base and lack ratings. To avoid breaches like these, it is crucial to read and comprehend app permissions before approving them.
