Cyber firms cautions mobile users against ‘rogue’ apps

Cyber firms caution mobile users against ‘rogue’ apps. Cybercriminals are currently turning to application stores, historically thought-about a secure destination for downloading mobile apps, to plant malware in phones. Recently, cybersecurity solutions supplier Symantec had detected associate degree application on Google Play Store — Beaver Gang Counter — that masquerades as a scorekeeping app for a well-liked game. but actually, once put in on the device, this application on the Q.T. starts looking out media files associated with Viber. Once it finds them, it sends them to a distant server.

While applications are largely verified before being printed on the official robot store, some manage to slide past the store’s direct security checks.

Viber

“Viber is a particular standard social media app with over five hundred million installs on Google Play alone. the information taken by the malware may be used for a variety of wicked functions like fraud, blackmail, fraud, or creation,” Symantec aforesaid in an exceeding blog post. Symantec had alerted Google regarding this issue and in response, they removed this app and developer from Google Play Store. The discovery of this app, it added, incontestable that having photos taken from devices is additionally a risk robot users required to bear in mind of. your time agone, personal pictures of some celebrities were leaked online, with reports suggesting that the attackers gained access to their Apple iCloud accounts.

“Mobile devices connect the North American nation to the planet, storing our most personal and valuable data in digital kind. However, this freedom complicates our security, and really mobile apps might gift important challenges to protecting our privacy. it would surprise you to find out that almost all threats to sensitive data on mobile devices are hidden in plain sight — in apps,” Ritesh Chopra, Country Manager, India, Norton by Symantec, said.

He superimposed that a lot of apps accessed or shared personal, sensitive information while not the users’ data or full understanding. Norton researchers recently found that globally, of the 10.8 million apps analyzed by them, almost 3.3 million were classified as malware, a 230 percent increase from 2014. The study advised that near forty percent of respondents granted permission to access their camera, bookmarks, and browser history in exchange without charge apps. “Thus, whereas apps are fun, boost your productivity and build your life easier, bound “rogue” apps will carry important risks,” Mr. Chopra superimposed.

Meanwhile, a Google voice said: “While we tend to don’t inquire into specific apps, {we can|we will|we are able to} make sure that our policies are designed to supply good expertise for users and developers. That’s why we tend to take away apps from Google Play that violate those policies.”
To stay shielded from such mobile threats, Symantec recommends that users refrain from downloading apps from unacquainted sites and install apps solely from sure sources. Besides, shut attention ought to be paid to the permissions that apps request.

Anti-virus updates

Users ought to avoid apps with a poor or non-existent name and any app that nobody is aware of regarding mustn’t be sure. it’s conjointly necessary that mobile package, as well as anti-viruses ar unbroken updated. Earlier, Symantec had conjointly found a bug in an exceedingly standard native food and building recommendation web site Burrp, which ultimately allowed cybercriminals to require over users’ system to code files and later demand a ransom to decode constant files. Most of the user’s World Health Organization are compact by this attack are based mostly within the U.S. and India.