Google brushed off more apps from Playstore

Google in a span of two months between July - September, has managed to remove a total of 34 apps from the Google Play Store because they were infected by the Joker malware that has been giving Android smartphone users nightmares.

The Joker malware is not new but lately has been causing headaches for Android app developers as it is very hard to detect due to the little code it uses. Also, malware like these use a different technique called ‘Dropper’ to bypass Google’s security scan and sneak into the user’s device.

The most recent additions to the list of apps infected by Joker malware were revealed by Zscaler, a cybersecurity firm based in California.

The Joker malware steals money from users by subscribing them to the unwanted premium paid subscriptions without their consent. It first simulates interaction with ads without users’ knowledge and then uses the victim’s SMS messages including OTP to initiate payments.

This means that the affected user might not know that they have been signed up for a paid subscription service and that their money has been deducted from their account unless they receive a message or notification stating their credit card statements, etc.

According to Google’s blog post earlier this week, Android’s security team claims that it has taken down around 17,000 apps since the beginning of the year 2017.