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Researchers at Lookout Security have discovered more than 20,000 adware samples that masqueraded as legitimite apps like Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. Calling it "trojanized adware", they described what they found:
By taking legitimate apps from the Google Play store, malicious actors will repackage the app with baked-in adware, and serve it to a third-party app store. In many cases, the apps are still fully functional and doesn't alert the device owner.
It works like this: the user installs an app from a third-party store, and the app auto-roots gaining access to the entire phone's system -- an act alone that punches a hole in Android's security, opening up more ways for hackers to launch their attacks. Periodically from there, the app will serve ads, which generates money for the attacker.
The good news is there's no indication apps installed from the official Google Play store are affected. The bad news is, that short of reflashing the device's ROM, it's almost impossible to remove, forcing most users to replace their devices entirely.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday November 06 2015, @06:33PM
...but you're more likely to get a fun extra payload with your warez.
True, it did happen. But, the Warez groups are way more ethical than these adware scum so it was a lot less likely.