Author: Abigail Elise / Source: KCCI
Forty-one Android apps infected with malicious software were removed from the Google Play Store on Thursday, but cybersecurity experts believe that up to 36.5 million people may have downloaded the “auto-clicking adware.”
Dubbed “Judy,” the malware was published by South Korean gaming studio Kiniwini under the name ENISTUDIO Corp. It’s unclear how the malicious code got there – criminal third parties or the company itself.
According to Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity company Check Point, the apps have been available in Google’s Play Store for years, though the length of infection hasn’t been determined.
“These apps also had a large amount of downloads between four and 18 million, meaning the total spread of the malware may have reached between 8.5 and 36.5 million users,” the company explained Thursday.
“The malware uses infected devices to generate large amounts of fraudulent clicks on advertisements, generating revenues for the perpetrators behind it,” Checkpoint added.
Applications infiltrated with malware are becoming problematic for Android app developers and consumers. As of last spring, an estimated 1.3 to 1.4 billion people owned Android phones, which are easier to infiltrate…
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