Make Sure You Haven’t Downloaded One of These Malicious Apps From Google Play
If you’ve recently downloaded a racing game from Google Play, you can check and make sure it’s really not malware.
This weekend, Google removed 13 malware-infected apps from the Google Play store. All 13 were disguised as auto racing. When you tried to launch the game, it crashed, but malware was still installed on your device. Impacted users may simply think that there is something wrong with their phone and do not realize that the application is malicious, NDTV reports .
Unlike some other malware attempts, these apps were popular as well. More than 560,000 people reportedly downloaded them before being picked up from the store, and two apps even made it to the Trends section of Google Play before being picked up, which likely added more downloads. Here’s a complete list:
Luxury Cars SUV Traffic
Car driving simulator
Extreme Car Driving Racing
Moto Cross Extreme Racing
City Climb SUV Parking
Extreme city car driving
City Traffic Motorcycle Racing
Extreme car driving
Hyper Car Driving Simulator
Truck Simulator
4×4 offroad car driving simulator
Firefighter – Fire Truck Simulator
Parking for luxury cars
They were all added to the store by the same developer, Luis O. Pinto.
When the user installed the app, the app icon was hidden and the users were prompted to install an additional Game Center APK, which did not work. Here you can watch a video of what the apps will do .
If you downloaded one of the malicious apps, remove it from your phone immediately.
To uninstall an app, start your phone in safe mode (you need to press and hold the power button to do this) or put it in airplane mode to restrict the app’s functionality. Then uninstall the app from your device.
Finally, get into malware protection. Avast Security and 360 Security are good apps to try to help you find malware left over on your phone and protect yourself from future attacks.
Now is the time to remind everyone to be careful with what you download. One of the best things about Google Play is that you can get great stuff from independent developers. However, you can also get things like this. Be diligent. Read reviews. Never download anything unless you are sure of the source or what the application might be doing.