Between the Google Play Store and the App Store (or two major stores of the respective smartphone operating systems), applications have been gaining an increasing position in our smartphone for ten years, fulfilling any need on the part of the user.
Apps for every taste vary, from free apps (which still allow you to get a good performance in most cases) to paid apps, in which you pay a one-time contribution or perhaps a monthly or yearly subscription.
Based on a reporting study conducted by a cybersecurity company McAfeeHowever, they are registered 20 million downloads As many as 16 Android apps are infected, and one fully autonomous app managed to reach 10 million downloads.
These dangerous applications, present in this case on Google Play Store, are part of so-called “adware” (from the Association of Words Ads and Software), i.e. specific software that uses the device in use (in this case a smartphone) with the aim of defrauding advertising circles. In this case, in particular, it was among the worst versions of adware that could be encountered on the web, or one that ran quietly in the background, without the knowledge of the hapless user on duty who knows absolutely nothing.
The purpose of all these ad programs? That the banners be displayed for advertising purposes, so that the miserable poor would click on them, in order to obtain a wage from the advertising department that financed that particular advertisement. The apps that McAfee tracks have managed to generate billions of clicks, from 20 million smartphones around the world, with a truly unimaginable amount of money.
How does adware work
Detailing in the specifics, these adware applications took over the smartphone of the victim on which they were fully installed, and even managed to unlock Browser in the background, so that the user does not see any of this and does not notice. The browser in question allows the opening of various websites containing ad banners, thus generating thousands upon thousands of clicks per hour.
The applications that you should avoid installing completely are the following:
- high speed camera
- Smart Task Manager
- flashlight +
- Notepad (Korean app)
- K-Dictionary
- Busan Bus
- flashlight +
The apps in question started executing their scams after about 60 minutes, completely without the user’s knowledge.
In addition to opening various banners, these apps also caused quite significant battery consumption, in addition to using the phone’s data plan for web traffic, they were able to work without problems even in the absence of a stable Wi-Fi. Fi connection.
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