Despite the efforts put by Google to block malware-laced Android apps entering the Play Store, bad actors are still managing to slip through the security screening to prey on naive users.
Tatyana Shishkova, Android Malware expert at Kaspersky has detected more than a dozen malicious Android apps with Joker trojan on Play Store. She has been sharing the links of the apps on Twitter and most of them have been taken down from Play Store.
Joker malware-based apps are notorious for spying on victims. Once installed on the phone, they are capable of tracking apps such as the default Messages app on the phone. They can read text messages and steal contact lists, personal photos, financial details, or trade secrets and send them to hackers in remote locations. All that while, victims never know what is happening on their devices.
Bad actors can use the information to blackmail a person or a corporate company for ransom. They are also used for enrolling victims in an expensive subscription plan without permission, but it gets detected soon. The phone owner can unsubscribe from the plan. But, the threat remains.
Here is the list of the Joker malware-laced apps:
--Battery Charging Animations Bubble Effects
--Battery Charging Animations Battery Wallpaper
--Classic Emoji Keyboard
--Dazzling Keyboard
--Easy PDF Scanner
--EmojiOne Keyboard
--Flashlight Flash Alert On Call
--Halloween Coloring
--Now QRcode Scan
--Smart TV remote
--Super-Click VPN
--Super Hero-Effect
--Volume Booster Louder Sound Equalizer
--Volume Booster Hearing Aid
If you have installed any of the aforementioned apps, uninstall them immediately.
Also, it is good practice to install anti-virus applications on Android phones for the early detection of malware-laced apps.
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