Dangerous malware found on 8 Google Play Store apps that read your SMS! Check list, delete now

Google has detected new malware on Google Play Store apps that secretly read users' SMS messages and subscribe them to premium services. Around eight apps on the Google Play Store were found to be infected with the malware called Autolycos. Alarmingly, though the tech giant has banned most of these apps on the Play Store, they have already been downloaded over 3,000,000 times. As shared by Bleeping Computers, two of the infected apps are still active on the Play store and having them on your phone could be dangerous for you. Here’s the list of the apps that were detected with this new malware

8 Dangerous Google Play Store apps detected with Autolycos malware

1. Vlog Star Video Editor (com.vlog.star.video.editor) – 1 million downloads

2. Creative 3D Launcher (app.launcher.creative3d) – 1 million downloads

3. Wow Beauty Camera (com.wowbeauty.camera) – 100,000 downloads

4. Gif Emoji Keyboard (com.gif.emoji.keyboard) – 100,000 downloads

5. Freeglow Camera 1.0.0 (com.glow.camera.open) – 5,000 downloads

6. Coco Camera v1.1 (com.toomore.cool.camera) –1,000 downloads

7. Funny Camera' by KellyTech - Over 50,000 downloads

8. 'Razer Keyboard & Theme' by rxcheldiolola - Over 50,000 downloads

If you have any of these apps downloaded on your phone, delete it immediately as it may read your SMS text messages and steal data. As shared by Evina's security researcher Maxime Ingrao, these apps ask for permission to access users’ text messages after their installation and as the users grant permission, the malware reads the SMS text messages and steals data. They sometimes even subscribe the device owner to premium services without letting them know.

Ingrao further shared that the malware performs stealth operations, by executing website URLs on a remote browser and adding it in the HTTP requests. This way they hide themselves from being detectd and hence undertake malicious activities on the device.