The potential threat of third party apps on your phone has been sufficiently underlined, but it turns out that apps downloaded from even the Google Play Store for your Android device may infect your phone. Security researchers have uncovered various apps available on the Play Store for varying lengths that had malicious adware code built into them. Estimates are now showing that the adware may have affected anywhere between 5 and 18 million users, although we know now which of the apps to uninstall and avoid. There is a curious marker for all of them – they all seem to bear the name Judy in some way or the other.
This adware slipped onto the Play Store via a single update looks like plain profit driven malware. The Korean developer Kiniwini is at the centre of the scandal, with 41 of their apps seemingly updated with adware code. The apps are available on the Play Store under the ENISTUDIO corp brand. At this point, we can not say if the company slipped in the code deliberately, or it was an individual act. The apps have been available on the store for quite a long time, and it seems that they have been infected only recently, and almost simultaneously. The oldest update was made back in April 2016, highlighting how little we know of the range and duration of the attack.
The security researchers were also able to identify other third-party apps that had malicious adware, increasing the potential of risk exposure to as high as 36 million users. The Judy apps have now been banned from the Playstore, and here is a list of the apps so you can get rid of them as soon as you can if you have installed any of these for your phone.
Fashion Judy: Snow Queen style
Animal Judy: Persian cat care
Fashion Judy: Pretty rapper
Fashion Judy: Teacher style
Animal Judy: Dragon care
Chef Judy: Halloween Cookies
Fashion Judy: Wedding Party
Animal Judy: Teddy Bear care
Fashion Judy: Bunny Girl Style
Fashion Judy: Frozen Princess
Chef Judy: Triangular Kimbap
Chef Judy: Udong Maker – Cook
Fashion Judy: Uniform style
Animal Judy: Rabbit care
Fashion Judy: Vampire style
Animal Judy: Nine-Tailed Fox
Chef Judy: Jelly Maker – Cook
Chef Judy: Chicken Maker
Animal Judy: Sea otter care
Animal Judy: Elephant care
Judy’s Happy House
Chef Judy: Hotdog Maker – Cook
Chef Judy: Birthday Food Maker
Fashion Judy: Wedding day
Fashion Judy: Waitress style
Chef Judy: Character Lunch
Chef Judy: Picnic Lunch Maker
Animal Judy: Rudolph care
Judy’s Hospital:pediatrics
Fashion Judy: Country style
Animal Judy: Feral Cat care
Fashion Judy: Twice Style
Fashion Judy: Myth Style
Animal Judy: Fennec Fox care
Animal Judy: Dog care
Fashion Judy: Couple Style
Animal Judy: Cat care
Fashion Judy: Halloween style
Fashion Judy: EXO Style
Chef Judy: Dalgona Maker
Chef Judy: ServiceStation Food
Judy’s Spa Salon
커플디데이 (커플기념일, 위젯)
Dog Music (Relax)
카카오톡 대화분석기
황금기 알리미 (여성달력)
100억 가계부
KatocPic(카톡픽) – 카톡프로필
필수추천 무료어플 77
Spring-It’s stylish, it’s sexy
Crafting Guide for Minecraft
Now, now, we all know that Google has secured the Play store and nothing goes beyond the Bouncers (Google’s protection mechanism), but these apps have, and that is a huge security threat. These infected apps are adware, which simply load and click visible and hidden ad banners, giving those ad banners higher clicks, and you a headache. Now these heightened clicks and impressions on the banners obviously help the author of the Adware sell these malicious apps illegitimately on higher rates. What is more, the app which is infected, could have been useful to you in the first place, but now is just finishing off your device’s efficiency and mobile data, making it unusable.
Now one might ask why exactly are these apps not reported or have such strong ratings still on Play Store. This can simply be attributed to the skills of those who created them. Many times, users are manipulated in giving them five-star ratings or even forced to be able to continue using them. Such spontaneous attacks usually go undetected in the world of Android phones and tablets, even anti-malware apps are only able to advise against installing an app. Prevention from installing an app is not possible as that involves high level accessibility rights. The only real protection in this scenario is keeping the system updated, which also happens to be quite infrequent.
