Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Removes 85 Adware Apps That Were Installed By Millions of Users (zdnet.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the cease-and-desist dept.

Google has removed 85 Android apps from the official Play Store that security researchers from Trend Micro deemed to contain a common strain of adware. "The 85 apps had been downloaded over nine million times, and one app, in particular, named 'Easy Universal TV Remote,' was downloaded over five million times," reports ZDNet. From the report: While the apps were uploaded on the Play Store from different developer accounts and were signed by different digital certificates, they exhibited similar behaviors and shared the same code, researchers said in a report published today. But besides similarities in their source code, the apps were also visually identical, and were all of the same types, being either games or apps that let users play videos or control their TVs remotely.

The first time users ran any of the apps, they would proceed to show fullscreen ads in different steps, asking and reasking users to press various buttons to continue. If the user was persistent and stayed with the app until it reached a menu page, every menu button push would trigger yet another fullscreen ad, over and over again until the app would suddenly crash, hiding its original app icon. But despite the crash, unbeknownst to the user, the app would continue to run in the phone's background, showing new fullscreen ads ever 15 or 30 minutes, generating profits for the fraudsters until users either removed the apps or reset devices to factory settings as a last resort. You can view a list of the 85 adware apps via this PDF file.

46 comments

  1. Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by WoodstockJeff · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Doesn't seem to be working very well...

    1. Re:Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google play doesn't wall their garden. The wall was the protection. You're supposed trust the garden fruit, not the outside stuff. That's how you're supposed to do it, unless the "gardener" is too greedy/lazy to attempt that verification.

    2. Re:Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The Google Play store is a dumping ground for all sorts of garbage - there is no hurdles to getting apps listed and no process to review apps for quality so this sort of thing becomes inevitable.

      People complain about the Apple 'walled garden' and the rules you have to play by to get your apps in the iOS store, but it does a much better job of preventing these sorts of apps, and the walled garden prevents them from infecting/digesting and pimping out your data.

    3. Re:Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't understand something here. Isn't Google itself Adware? My guess is the "malicious" behavior in this particular adware is that it wasn't paying google its 30% cut on ad revenue.

    4. Re:Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Walled garden does nothing of the sort. The review process only screens out super obvious stuff like this... which could have been solved by simply uninstalling the app.

      There have been numerous white/grey hat examples that show that Apple has no idea what is running underneath the hood of each app. Remember the flashlight that tethers? Banned only when it got popular enough to warrant attention, just like this.

    5. Re:Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by Luthair · · Score: 2

      https://us.norton.com/internet...

    6. Re:Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by DaMattster · · Score: 1

      Doesn't seem to be working very well...

      Google's Play Protect is an epic failure!

    7. Re:Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, we abdicated responsibility for due diligence in installing software on our devices when we went to mobile?

      No, we didn't, you asshat. It's harder to check out an apps behavior now and lock it down, because the OS isn't fully under our control (nor is the hardware), but it doesn't mean you give up responsibility.

      It only makes your job harder; it doesn't get rid of your job.

    8. Re: Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google loves ads! You know that's how THEY make most of their money. It would be hypocritical to not allow apps to make money the same way.

    9. Re:Weren't the 'stores' supposed to protect us? by DrXym · · Score: 1
      They are protecting you to an extent. The apps were identified and removed from the store, and Google has the means to remotely remove them from devices.

      But is the store a walled garden where every line of code is reviewed and approved? No. The store might be proactive about identifying and removing threats, but it is not a substitute for exercising common sense.

      As an aside, this threat was identified by Trend Micro who are IMO, even worse than some of the malware they claim to protect from. It's obviously in their interest to big up threats even if in this case it's little more than nuisance software. Their antivirus products for the PC are just garbage, slowing down internet access and firing false positives. Can't even uninstall or disable the thing because its corporate policy.

  2. (Google laugh) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google doesn't mind if you get fucked, they get paid up front and then again with your data mine. "Do no evil, without lube"

    1. Re: (Google laugh) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      New headline:

      partial dinosaur bone 4 feet long found south of gobi desert

      Draws you right in doesnâ(TM)t it?

  3. How is it even possible? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    Why isn't there a hot key to override any misbehaving app and give control back to the user, to launch task killer?

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:How is it even possible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course there's a way to do that but you have to be smarter than a 3 year old to do it.

    2. Re:How is it even possible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Android UI is not exactly known to be very user friendly.

    3. Re:How is it even possible? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      If it's not a background app, then yes, there's a button to bring up a task manager on every Android phone, the boxy on. Good Android phones have this as one of three off screen buttons, shitty Android phones cost three times as much and have these on screen but hidden in full screen mode - you have to swipe from the side to get the buttons to appear.

      Never buy a phone with on screen buttons.

      Anywho, for background tasks you need to go to Settings -> Apps -> Whatever app it is, and hit Force Stop. The same screen also has an Uninstall button to kill the process permanently.

      So yes, either way, Android does have relatively easy to find tools to kill misbehaving processes.

      Again, never buy an Android phone with on screen buttons.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    4. Re:How is it even possible? by AHuxley · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      The same way police, mil and govs get full access to any user they find in the wild.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    5. Re:How is it even possible? by hankwang · · Score: 1

      My phone has off-screen touch-sensitive buttons. They would trigger all the time if my finger accidentally slid off-screen, so I disabled them. The on-screen soft buttons are smarter and trigger not on slide-ins, only on taps. The occasional extra step to make them visible in a full screen app really doesn't bother me.

      --
      Avantslash: low-bandwidth mobile slashdot.
    6. Re:How is it even possible? by dargaud · · Score: 1

      Anywho, for background tasks you need to go to Settings -> Apps -> Whatever app it is, and hit Force Stop. The same screen also has an Uninstall button to kill the process permanently

      Many apps have a disabled uninstall button. Only way to deal with them is revoke all their permissions (but they'll still be running). That sucks.

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
    7. Re:How is it even possible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are forbidden of having any control over your device because spying on you would be more difficult.

    8. Re:How is it even possible? by bigtech · · Score: 1

      Say what? Maybe you're talking about the apps that are built into a phone's ROM, but to the best of my knowledge, there's no way to disable an uninstall button in Android.

    9. Re:How is it even possible? by dargaud · · Score: 1
      Whether they are system apps or add-on apps from the phone vendor or even add-on apps from the phone company, there are plenty. I just checked and the following can't be uninstalled: Android accessibility Suite, Apps Lock, Calendar, Camera, Carrier Services, Clock, Cloud Print (why the fuck would I need that ?), Contacts, Drive, Duo, eMail, Facebook, File Manager, Files, FM Radio, Freebox, etc, etc...

      Some seem essential (calendar...) until you can see plenty of preferable alternatives on the Play Store.

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
  4. Are there any good apps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    An honest question: are there any apps out there that don't do evil? Apps that are free, show no ads, collect no information for sale; do not track you everywhere; do not steal your credentials, your contacts, or your email; do not send spam or join botnets; do not nag you to upgrade to a paid version; and, of course, perform some function that is useful to me rather than to some big corporation. Are there any apps like that?

    1. Re:Are there any good apps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Have you still never looked at F-Droid?

    2. Re:Are there any good apps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. The phone app. The one you use when you, you know, CALL someone WITH YOUR PHONE.

  5. Great! But....... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now can they stop serving ads with mackeeper malware?

  6. A couple things by bobstreo · · Score: 1

    If you install an app and get full screen ads, just uninstall it. Or read more than 1 review to see if it's worth installing. If you encounter full screen ads, just hit the home button to get back to your home screen.

    Install a firewall on your android device.

    There are plenty of free firewalls to choose from. You can control various types of access and deny access to either specific sites or accesses to sites by app or even global rules.

    You'd be scared/amazed to see what is trying to access external sites on the Internet. If nothing else, you will reduce your data use by blocking acceses from your device.

    For instance, I really don't have any idea why my flashlight app would be accessing anything other than the camera led. I see it trying to phone home, and block it permanently.

    I'd like for someone (else) to create a bunch of rules for me to use so my apps never try to talk to bookface or other trackers.

    1. Re:A couple things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could have just installed one of the FOSS flashlight apps from F-Droid. You can see the code, they don't ask for weird permissions, and they're much tinier than the shady ones on Google Play Store.

    2. Re:A couple things by nukenerd · · Score: 1

      If you install an app and get full screen ads, just uninstall it.

      And how would you necessarily know which app was doing it?

  7. So google.. and ad company... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So Google, an advertising and spyware company, is upset that someone else is advertising and spying?

    That's rich.

    How about we say no to the ad-infested shithole that the internet is becoming, no small thanks to Google and Facebook?

  8. Ripped by Kokobaby39 · · Score: 0

    Sounds like these people want to steal from the brains behind the internet. Totally had to be fronted by the Google pros. Also - are they stealing from the Google Analyics? Hopefully this is not the return of the AllAdvantage of the 90's. That was pimpin fraud back then.

  9. We need someone to protect us from the stores. by ron_ivi · · Score: 1

    A far bigger privacy concern is Google's spyware itself. I hope the phone vendors some day get sick of google and market phones with unlocked bootloaders so you can install Debian, Red Hat, or whatever OS you want on them.

    1. Re:We need someone to protect us from the stores. by nukenerd · · Score: 2

      A far bigger privacy concern is Google's spyware itself.

      The story here is making your device unusable by turning it into a billboard. Not much to do with privacy. We know privacy is another concern , but don't hijack this thread because of it.

  10. Cunts! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck yourself with a squirrel

  11. Samsung & Carriers by david999 · · Score: 0

    Samsung has the Facebook app that cannot be removed. Facebook tracks you even if you are not a user. Meanwhile all the carriers are selling your location so anyone can track you.

    1. Re:Samsung & Carriers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Samsung has the Facebook app that cannot be removed.

      I disable all apps I don't want, if it's possible. Otherwise, I restrict them as much as I can. No data usage, no permissions (access to storage, contacts, location, ...), no background processing, and what else can be turned off. Don't forget to go through the system apps as well.

  12. Report them when you see them. It works. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I report this crap when I see it.

    They often get installed by browser hijacking adds that use clever HTML5 to hide the store and just show the button.

    The malware itself is posted frequently, or they purchase projects from other developers which they then turn in to malware (Riding on the app's previous reputation - This is supposedly against terms now but it still happens)

    But yeah, report it. It works. The bad shit gets taken down. I've done it a dozen times.

  13. Why Do these Ads Work? by nukenerd · · Score: 1

    What I don't get is why would such annoying behaviour make anyone want to buy the crap being advertised? Or why anyone would think it would sell more of the crap. My Pavlov dog-like reaction would to recoil from what was being shoved in my face and fucking up my usage.

  14. That's not what adware means, noobs by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Adware already has a meaning. It's software which presents ads in exchange for not costing money, and you may be able to remove the ads by paying a fee. It does NOT mean apps which only show you ads. Android software is dominated by actual adware, and this seems a deliberate attempt to obfuscate that fact.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:That's not what adware means, noobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adware is an older term. It refers to the sneaky Windows crap we had special malware scanners for back in the early oughts.

    2. Re:That's not what adware means, noobs by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Adware is an older term. It refers to the sneaky Windows crap we had special malware scanners for back in the early oughts.

      We had adware in the current sense back then, too.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  15. Use our Store! by DarkRookie2 · · Score: 1

    Stuff like this wont happen. We promised.

    --
    http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
  16. Re:Daily Reminder: Android is shit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    but a step up from iPhone.

  17. who? by sad_ · · Score: 1

    i looked at the list and it's just a bunch of rubbish apps, who installs these idiotic things?
    aparently 100.000's of people looking at the download count.
    nobody learned a thing as people just keep installing whatever on their devices.

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.