Google takes down 34 Joker malware-laced apps from Play store

Google's Android ecosystem has a 70-percent plus market share with more than two billion active user-base. But, unfortunately, it attracts bad actors to prey on naive mobile owners to install malware-laced apps. Though the search engine giant is steadily scaling up the screening process on apps before allowing them to the Play store, it has failed to control the intrusion of malware.

The eagle-eyed Zscaler ThreatLabZ research team has uncovered 34 malicious Android apps in the Play store. They come with Joker malware, which is infamous for stealing financial details said to be found in those apps. It primarily makes illegal premium SMS subscriptions without the consent of the owner and also known to perform as spyware to track the phone user.

Most of the time, Joker malware is very hard to detect even for keen-eyed security researchers and is the same for Google's cyber team. The criminals use dropping techniques to remotely load the malware via Command and Control (C&C) server method in multiple stages into legitimate-looking apps to avoid detection.

"Joker is one of the most prominent malware families that continually targets Android devices. Despite awareness of this particular malware, it keeps finding its way into Google’s official application market by employing changes in its code, execution methods, or payload-retrieving techniques. This spyware is designed to steal SMS messages, contact lists, and device information along with silently signing up the victim for premium wireless application protocol (WAP) services," Zscaler ThreatLabZ said.

Fortunately, the Zscaler team has detected them (list below) and Google has promptly taken them down from the Play store.

Joker malware-laced apps list:
All Good PDF Scanner
Mint Leaf Message-Your Private Message
Unique Keyboard - Fancy Fonts & Free Emoticons
Tangram App Lock
Direct Messenger
Private SMS
One Sentence Translator - Multifunctional Translator
Style Photo Collage
Meticulous Scanner
Desire Translate
Talent Photo Editor - Blur focus
Care Message
Part Message
Paper Doc Scanner
Blue Scanner
Hummingbird PDF Converter - Photo to PDF
All Good PDF Scanner

Users are advised to remove the aforementioned apps from their Android smartphones immediately. Also, always download apps from the Play store and only from known publishers only. Before installing any app, be sure to check for user reviews and surely there will definitely be telltale signs of a bad app.

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