Wandera, a company expert in cybersecurity, has discovered 8 Android apps that hide adware: here's the list and what are the dangers for users
In the week in which Google announced the launch of a new alliance to defeat dangerous apps that are continually being discovered and published on the Play Store, Wandera, a company specializing in cybersecurity, publishes a report with 8 new dangerous apps on the Google store.
Nothing new for users. For several months now, dozens of dangerous Android apps have been discovered every week that hide a very peculiar malware: adware. It is a virus that is "harmless" for users' personal data and has the sole purpose of showing misleading advertisements on the smartphone screen. The user has no tools to defend himself: he can only locate the infected app and uninstall it from the device. The eight apps discovered by Wandera are produced by three different software companies, but they offer very similar tools: flashlight, alarm clock, calculator and image filters.
The company has already warned Google that it has promptly removed the apps from the Play Store, but if you happened to have one of the eight apps installed on your smartphone, our advice is to delete it immediately.
How adware works
Adware is a particular type of virus that has one purpose: to show advertisements on the device's screen. For every user click, hackers earn a few cents. Adding penny to penny, hackers manage to earn as much as several hundred euros every day.
The adware present in the eight applications works differently than normal. Dopo che l’utente installava l’applicazione, il virus non iniziava immediatamente a mostrare gli annunci pubblicitari, ma restava “dormiente" per un po’ di tempo. Dopodiché cominciava a mostrare pubblicità a tutto schermo, con l’utente che non poteva far altro di cliccarci per eliminarlo.
Quali sono le 8 app Android da cancellare immediatamente
- Magnifyng Glass di PumpApp
- Super Bright LED Flashlight di PumpApp
- Magnifier di LizotMitis
- Magnifying Glass with Flashlight di LizotMitis
- Super-bright-Flashlight di LizotMitis
- Alarm Clock di iSoft LLC
- Calculator di iSoft LLC
- Free Magnigying Glass di iSoft LLC
Cosa rischiano gli utenti
Non c’è un rischio reale per i dati degli utenti: gli adware mostrano solamente annunci pubblicitari ingannevoli. Un rischio, però, esiste ed è tangibile: la salute del proprio smartphone. Infected smartphones, in fact, remain continuously active in the background, consuming the smartphone's battery and increasing the internal temperature. Factors that in the long run lead to smartphone's ruin.
How to defend yourself against adware
Wandera has warned Google, which has promptly deleted the apps from the Play Store. We recommend you to check your smartphone and see if you have installed any of the eight infected apps. In case you are "infected" delete it immediately.
Adware is a sneaky virus. Harmless on the surface, but in the long run they ruin the user experience and even the internal components of the smartphone. Is there any way to defend against adware? Yes, there is. First of all, you have to install an antivirus on your Android smartphone. There are plenty of them on the Google store, including free ones. We also suggest that you don't download apps from third-party stores and that you rely only on official stores. Finally, before downloading an app, check the reliability of the software house and the reviews of other users: if they are too positive or negative, it's better not to download them.