Mobile Security Malvertising News

"Android Users Beware: Over 60K Adware Apps Disguised as Popular Apps"

Over 60,000 adware apps for Android have been discovered masquerading as cracked versions of popular applications, with a majority of detections located in the U.S., South Korea, Brazil, Germany, the U.K., France, Kazakhstan, Romania, and Italy. None of the apps are distributed through the official Google Play Store, and users searching for apps on a search engine are redirected to an ad page hosting the malware. Once installed, the apps have no icons or names to evade detection and serve unwanted ads to users. The adware behavior remains dormant for the first few days, after which it's awakened when the victim unlocks the phone to serve a full-screen ad using Android WebView.