Strengthening the move to make its platforms more secure for Android phone users, Google has banned as many as 11 apps from its Play Store that were associated with Joker malware. Check Point that deals with security solutions has said that the Joker Malware was found in all these apps that have been taken down by Google from the Play Store.
They have suggested users of these apps (name given at the end) uninstall them immediately. This malware could manage the users to subscribe for premium services without intimation and as they got inside these apps users had installed on their phone, they could not be detected by Google Play’s protection framework. Check Point has raised the alarm that the Joker malware is hard to detect by Google Play’s security features and as a result can very well make a comeback to the Play Store.
Full list of Android apps with Joker malware
com.imagecompress.android
com.contact.withme.texts
com.hmvoice.friendsms
com.relax.relaxation.androidsms
com.cheery.message.sendsms (two different instances)
com.peason.lovinglovemessage
com.file.recovefiles
com.LPlocker.lockapps
com.remindme.alram
com.training.memorygame
Google’s efforts to clean its Play Store from suspicious apps believed to deal in malpractices are not a new phenomenon. Earlier this month, the Alphabet-owned tech giant had removed 25 apps from the Google Play store for data theft and illegal handling of the users’ data, The suspension of those 25 apps was crucial as the overall downloads number of these apps were in excess of 2.34 millions-mark before Google finally decided to take them off from the play store. Google had taken that decision on a report from a French cybersecurity firm Evina.
The apps had a wide range of utility of their user base as they were launched as image editors, video editors, wallpaper apps, flashlight applications, file managers, and mobile games.
