Google Pulls 60 Apps From Play Store After Malware Exposes Kids To Porn (gizmodo.com)

Cyberthreat intelligence firm Check Point on Friday disclosed the existence of malicious code buried inside dozens of apps that displays pornographic images to users. Many of the apps are games reportedly geared toward young children. As a result, Google quickly removed the roughly 60 apps said to be affected from its Play Store. Gizmodo reports: While they appeared as such, the pornographic images displayed were not actually Google ads. Google supposedly maintains tight controls on all ads that appear in what it calls "Designed for Family" apps. The company also maintains a white-list of advertisers deemed safe for children under the ages of 13. None of the affected apps were part of Google's "Family Link" program, which is the category of recognized kid-friendly apps available across Google's platforms. The malware, dubbed AdultSwine, is said to have displayed the highly inappropriate images while also attempting to trick users into installing a fake-security app, or "scareware." After the fake "ads" were delivered, users would've received a "Remove Virus Now" notification, or something similar, designed to provoke users into downloading the scareware. The affected gaming apps included at least one which may have had up to 5,000,000 downloads -- Five Nights Survival Craft -- as well as many others which had between 50,000 and 500,000 downloads.

Comments

why i gotta click like 8 times for a list

[Anonymous Coward]

Five Nights Survival Craft
  Mcqueen Car Racing Game
  Addon Pixelmon for MCPE
  CoolCraft PE
  Exploration Pro WorldCraft
  Draw Kawaii
  San Andreas City Craft
  Subway Banana Run Surf
  Exploration Lite : Wintercraft
  Addon GTA for Minecraft PE
  Addon Sponge Bob for MCPE
  Drawing Lessons Angry Birds
  Temple Crash Jungle Bandicoot
  Drawing Lessons Lego Star Wars
  Drawing Lessons Chibi
  Girls Exploration Lite
  Drawing Lessons Subway Surfers
  Paw Puppy Run Subway Surf
  Flash Slither Skin IO
  Invisible Slither Skin IO
  Drawing Lessons Lego Ninjago
  Drawing Lessons Lego Chima
  Temple Bandicoot Jungle Run
  Blockcraft 3D
  Jungle Survival Craft 1.0
  Easy Draw Octonauts
  halloweenskinsforminecraft
  skinsyoutubersmineworld
  youtubersskins
  DiadelosMuertos
  Draw X-Men
  Moviesskinsforminecraft
  Virtual Family – Baby Craft
  Mine Craft Slither Skin IO
  Guide Clash IO
  Invisible Skin for Slither IO app
  Zombie Island Craft Survival
  HalloweenMakeUp
  ThanksgivingDay
  ThanksgivingDay2
  Jurassic Survival Craft Game
  Players Unknown Battle Ground
  Subway Bendy Ink Machine Game
  Shin Hero Boy Adventure Game
  Temple Runner Castle Rush
  Dragon Shell for Super Slither
  Flash Skin for Slither IO app
  AnimePictures
  Pixel Survival – Zombie Apocalypse
  Fire Skin for Slither IO app
  San Andreas Gangster Crime
  fidgetspinnerforminecraft
  Stickman Fighter 2018
  Subway Run Surf
  Guide Vikings Hunters
  Woody Pecker
  Pack of Super Skins for Slither
  Spinner Toy for Slither
  How to Draw Coco and The Land of the Dead
  How to Draw Dangerous Snakes and Lizards Species
  How to Draw Real Monster Trucks and Cars
  How to Draw Animal World of The Nut Job 2
  How to Draw Batman Legends in Lego Style

Easiest Solution: Kids Do Not Need Smart Phones

[DatbeDank]

Children do not need phones, let alone smartphones.

I commonly see this weak excuse from parents claiming they, "want to know where their children are."
Seriously? You're that bad of a parent that you haven't the foggiest idea where your kids are? Here was what my kid was like back in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Wake up - take the bus to school - school - sports practice - ride home with family friends - home.

Here's what a non-busy day looked like: wake up - bus- school - bus- home.

Wow! It's like somehow I was in the immediate vicinity of a responsible adult at all times and my parents knew my safety was ok. Mind-blowing isn't it?

And to think, flip phones were a thing at this time too. I didn't get my first phone until I got my first driver's license which at that time makes intelligent sense.

Phones cost excessive amounts of money on top of a monthly contract. Why should I pay extra cash each month to have my kid screw around on social media and have easy accessibility to porn at my expense? I had to work to see porn when I was a teen. Today it's too darn easy!

Parents these days are weak. Tell little Timmy and Tia no you're not getting a phone. It's that easy! If you really want to know where they are (going against my entire thesis here), get them a cheap flip phone. Yes, they still make them.

My kid the other day (he's 7) asked for me an iPhone and I laughed at him. I said back to him, "How are you going to pay for it?"
Ended that question really quick.

Re:Easiest Solution: Kids Do Not Need Smart Phones

[jeff4747]

Back when I was a kid, my parents made sure I had enough change to use a payphone so that I could call them if I needed their help (picked up from random location, got lost, etc). Of course, we were also allowed to go places on our own instead of your "only school and home" model. I intend to let my kids have that freedom instead of chaining them to an adult at all times.

Back then, payphones were pretty common. So they were an extremely workable option for a kid to summon mom and dad if needed. Payphones are basically gone now, so another option is required.

My kid's getting a phone not to track them or other dumb shit like that. They're getting a phone because I'm not willing to make them rely only on the goodness of strangers if they need help.

I can either go buy a flip phone for them to use, or I can hand them my already-paid-for smartphone when I decide to upgrade. Not exactly a difficult decision, since one requires leaving the house and the other requires saying "here ya go".

As for porn and social media, why the hell are you on slashdot if you're unable to work the easily-available parental controls on the phone and your wireless account? You'll also be missing out on the "I'm proud but I have to punish you" moment when they break those controls.

Re:Easiest Solution: Kids Do Not Need Smart Phones

[thegarbz]

I commonly see this weak excuse from parents claiming they, "want to know where their children are."

Quite the opposite. My child will have a smartphone because I don't intend to helicopter over them and it is valuable for them to have tools that allow them to do things like look up public transport timetables.

Wake up - take the bus to school - school - sports practice - ride home with family friends - home.

Yeah, you could have just said you don't have kids.

Re:Easiest Solution: Kids Do Not Need Smart Phones

[Kjella]

Wow! It's like somehow I was in the immediate vicinity of a responsible adult at all times and my parents knew my safety was ok. Mind-blowing isn't it?

You must have been a dull kid. Me and my buddies, we were on our own a lot. Not neglect-like a lot, but shooting hoops at the local basketball court. Or going up to the nearby lake. Or collecting list golf balls at the local golf court and selling them back to golfers. Or walking my buddy's dogs. Or playing in the woods. We had a wrist watch and a time to be back. And we were back on time, because otherwise they'd really worry. And that was probably more control than my grandparents had over their kids. If your metric is safety and control, there's no doubt my parents had less. If there was a genuine emergency we didn't have a cell phone, not to call mum and dad, not to call 911, nothing. You could of course imagine all sorts of terrible things happening to us, but none of them did.

What it did learn us was independence and responsibility. Of course the governing theory today is that you should fake it and secretly know where they are and what they're doing anyway while pretending not to. To me it seems like a scary proposition, because once you're caught doing it you've violated the trust you pretended to give and said I don't really trust you anyway. I know this happened with my mom and some money that disappeared from my wallet, I knew where it went because I repaid a friend for something, candy or whatever but clearly she didn't know that. She clearly knew I had less money today than yesterday though. And I was like WTF mom you're rifling through my pockets now? Maybe with age I can see that as an attempt at parenting but back then I didn't see it as anything but betrayal.

Kids are lucky these days

[jwhyche]

Kids have it so easy these days. I remember we had to wait till the end of the month then go dumpster diving in the middle of the night when I was a kid to get our porn. That was when the gas station down the road would throw out all its unsold playboys and hustlers.

Now all they have to do is download the crappy app and get bonus porn. Kids are so lucky these days.

Re:Kids are lucky these days

[gweihir]

And that is just it: Kids old enough to be interested will get porn anyways, the others just do not care. The whole panic about this makes absolutely no sense. And there is nothing parents can do about it except teach their kids to hide things from them. Not good.

Re:Kids are lucky these days

[jwhyche]

While I meant my post in jest, you do have a point. Our society does seem to be anal about protecting the little kiddies from seeing any boobies. I read a post a few days ago about a parent who wouldn't let her kid see Deadpool because it had a 5 minute sex scene in it. But she seemed to have no issue with body parts flying all over the place.