It is not the first time that we are talking to you about a security scandal related in one way or another with Google Play. In fact, last November we learned that Google had deleted 13 different games after a security researcher discovered that half a million Google Play users would have been affected by a malware case. We started the week with similar news, since Google has just blocked access to 29 camera apps in the Play Store.
The security firm Trend Micro has discovered 29 malicious applications camouflaged as camera apps aimed at the beauty sector. Apparently, these applications captured the traffic of their users, tried to steal their personal data and even sent their photos to private servers. Although Google has cut off access to these tools, the applications had millions of downloads.
Once installed, some of the apps showed full-screen ads with adult content images. In addition, others took users to websites that were intended to steal their personal data, which highlights the magnitude of the problem. And the worst of all is that in some cases the apps hid their icon, making it difficult for the user to eliminate it if it detected something suspicious.
The company responsible for the discovery claims to have initially been interested in noticing the curious pattern in the scores of these 29 applications. Apparently, the vast majority of them were 1 or 5 stars, which indicates that many were false scores, while the negative ones were real users who had been deceived. Trend Micro have published the list of the 29 affected applications, some of these apps are Pro Camera Beauty, Cartoon Art Photo or Selfie Camera Pro.
Also published on Medium.