TrendMicro has discovered 36 apps in Google Play that execute unwanted behavior:
These apps posed as useful security tools under the names Security Defender, Security Keeper, Smart Security, Advanced Boost, and more. They also advertised a variety of capabilities: scanning, cleaning junk, saving battery, cooling the CPU, locking apps, as well as message security, WiFi security, and so on.
The apps were actually able to perform these simple tasks, but they also secretly harvested user data, tracked user location, and aggressively pushed advertisements.
The apps in question have been removed from Google Play.
Related: Google Pauses Crackdown on Apps That Use Accessibility Features
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday January 06 2018, @06:14AM
EA games? Commodore 64?
All I remember is how furious I would get as those bastard programmers kept banging the head of my expensive 1541 disk drive against the stop. Over and over and over.
And knocking it out of alignment.
That was one of the main things that got me very interested in reverse engineering and disassembly.
I knew good and well they were screwing up my drive on purpose.
To me, they were like that one guy I knew that kept slamming my car door shut way harder than called for... and I really hated to give him a ride anywhere - I did not want that guy anywhere near my car.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]