New cybersecurity issues on Google Play Store, 87 mods for Minecraft are actually malware that download ads and viruses to your device
That the Google Play Store was not a properly safe place we already knew. In recent times, however, Google's promises and work to improve users' cybersecurity while downloading apps and games had raised hopes. Now, however, a new flaw has been discovered on 87 fake mods for Minecraft.
Let's start from the beginning. A mod, within the language of video games, is a set of aesthetic and functional changes to a video game. These can be made by professionals or by passionate gamers with the purpose of updating, improving or simply making the game different. Minecraft, on the other hand, is a famous game, one of the most popular on the Google Play Store, where you have to manage to your liking a world that you receive randomly generated at the beginning of each game. The only real mission is to eliminate Ender Dragon, the dragon, who lives in the underground of our world.
The false mod of Minecraft
As said about Minecraft the freedom of action is the real strength of the game. Cyber criminals have exploited this very aspect and knowing that players are constantly looking for new features, new details and new functions have created 87 fake mods for the game. Instead of modifying the game, these apps take control of the victim's device and bombard it with downloaded advertisements or open a browser window that in turn displays advertisements, surveys and fake virus alerts. In addition, there have been cases of apps downloading malware to devices instead of ads.
How to defend yourself
The advice, in general and not only for Minecraft fans, is to pay close attention to all apps you download, and to check reviews first. One of the first aspects to consider are the requests for permissions; if a game or an app asks us for permissions to access its location, microphone, camera or contacts, without any apparent explanation, it's better to start asking ourselves questions. In addition, we can equip ourselves with a good antivirus to check the reliability of the various apps on the Google Play Store.