If you are an Android user, you have the Google Play Store to download millions of apps for every task under the sun. If you want new widgets on your phone, you have an app. If you don’t like the look of your home screen, you can customize it with downloadable launchers. You can find similar, if not better, replacements for standard apps like file managers, music players, and more. However, just like Apple, Google also scans apps for malware, but some potentially harmful apps often go unnoticed.
When downloaded to your smartphone, these apps can not only steal your data but could also put your financial information at risk, leave your phone open to hacking, and even brick it, leaving it a worthless and overpriced paperweight.
A recent report from cybersecurity firm ThreatFabric has revealed five apps on the Google Play Store that are prone to stealing your banking information via screen recording. Apps steal your information through a process called dropper distribution.
The report said: “Distribution through droppers on official stores remains one of the most efficient ways for threat actors to reach a wide and unsuspecting audience. Although other distribution methods are also used depending on cybercriminals targets, resources, and motivation, droppers remain one of the best option on price-efforts-quality ratio, competing with SMiShing.”
These three apps that steal data are:
1. My Finances Tracker: Budget
2. Recover audio, Images and Videos
3. Zetter Authenticator