Remove Malicious CamScanner App for Android Right Now and Try These Alternatives
Security specialists at Kaspersky Lab detected malware in various versions of the CamScanner Android application, which were published on the Google Play store in June and July. You should uninstall it from your Android phone right now if you haven’t updated the app to any versions released since June 30th, and even then we recommend uninstalling it anyway.
Why disclaimer? According to the researchers, the latest versions of the CamScanner app do not appear to contain the problematic Trojan Dropper malware that was packaged with previous versions of the app. As they describe on their blog:
“Kaspersky products detect this module as Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.Necro.n, which we observed in some applications pre-installed on Chinese smartphones. As the name suggests, the module is a Trojan dropper program. This means that the module extracts and runs another malicious module from an encrypted file included in the application resources. This “dropped” malware, in turn, is a Trojan downloader that downloads more malicious modules depending on what its creators are currently doing.
For example, an application with this malicious code can display intrusive ads and subscribe users to paid subscriptions. “
According to Android Police , CamScanner malware first appeared in the June 16 app update (version 5.11.3.20190616) and persisted in the June 25 app update (version 5.12.0.20190725). It has been removed starting with the June 30 app update (5.12.0.20190730).
However, this malware got into the app, and whether the latest version is clean or not, the incident was serious enough for CamScanner to be temporarily blocked from the Google Play store. You can still find “ CamScanner HD ” on Google Play, but the original “ CamScanner ” app seems to have disappeared – and developer INTSIG is now asking users to download an unpublished version of the app on their devices instead of linking to the Google Play store. (“Hmm,” we say.)
Our advice? CamScanner has betrayed your trust and it’s time to switch to an app you don’t have to worry about. Uninstall it and install a better document scanning application like Adobe Scan or Microsoft Office Lens . You can even use the built-in scanner that comes with the Google Drive app if you like. These are all reliable options, especially since they never tried to infect your device with unnecessary crap.