Remove them now! These 9 apps are stealing data from your smartphone
4:07 PM EDT, October 20, 2023
9 harmful apps that were stealing login data for Facebook have been identified in the Play Store on Android. Although Google has removed them from the platform, users must uninstall them from their smartphones themselves.
Harmful apps were described in a security report by Dr.Web company. The list includes, among others, a photo editor, a memory optimization program for smartphones, a horoscope serving app, or a program for people interested in fitness. All described apps were downloaded almost 6 million times in total.
Dr.Web's security identified a trojan in the software described in this case as Android.PWS.Facebook.13. Its main goal is to steal Facebook login data via a tampered form displayed in applications. The stolen data is used for other scams, especially for mobile transfers.
Harmful Android apps - remove them now!
Fortunately, Android users who have never downloaded any of the infected apps are already safe - Google has removed them from the Play Store. However, the rest must take care of removing the Trojan apps from their smartphones themselves. The identified programs that turned out to steal logins and passwords to Facebook are:
- Processing Photo
- App Lock Keep
- Rubbish Cleaner
- Hororscope Daily
- Horoscope Pi
- App Lock Manager
- Lockit Master
- Inwell Fitness
- PiP Photo
The described example is proof that the security of official app stores is still not perfect. As you can see, even if a user takes care of their security and does not install applications on their smartphone from external sources, they can still become a victim to cunning fraudsters who will try to steal data.