- By Vikas Yadav
- Mon, 12 Jun 2023 06:14 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
JE Technology Desk: Do you also use an app that claims to serve an ad-free YouTube experience or offer Netflix content for free? Then your Android device might be at risk. In a shocking series of affairs, over 60,000 apps were spreading adware on smartphones while hiding under the shelves of the app list for the past six months, Bleeping Computer citing Bitdefender, a cybersecurity firm, reported. Over 50 per cent of these cases were staged in the United States.
The Romanian cybersecurity company detected the behaviour through an 'Anomaly Detection' feature on its Mobile Security app. The campaign likely started in October last year and was amplified via cracked applications, games, VPN software, ad-free YouTube apps and other fake security programs.
"More than 60,000 unique apps have been identified, and more are likely still in the wild. Given the sheer number of apps, the entire operation is likely automated," the blog reads.
Adware Apps: How the process starts
While these apps are not present on Google Play or other authentic app stores, once the user downloads them from other sources like Google, they mimic the installation process and display a failure message. Despite this, the adware is installed successfully and connects to the server. Ads start appearing some days later.
These packages appear at the bottom of the app list and do not possess an icon or a name. While these apps were displaying ads initially, these could turn into malicious links for even more dangerous operations in the future, speculates Bitdefender.
Affected Countries
Apart from the US, South Korea, Brazil, Germany, the UK, and others were among the top target countries. No specific cases in India were mentioned in the report. However, a category of 'other' countries (highlighted in the data) with a share of over 12 per cent targets may encompass India.
