The Play Store is once again invaded by Android malware. Check Point researchers have indeed found traces of two malware on the Google store. Joker, a dangerous Spyware, and Haken, an adware. Experts say 12 Android apps have been infected. We invite you to urgently uninstall them from your smartphone.
“Check Point researchers recently discovered a new malware family and new samples of the Joker malware family on the Play Store,” Check Point said in a survey released February 21, 2020. This is not the first time that Joker malware threatens Android users. Last September, the malware infected 24 applications available on Google Play Store. Less than a month later, Joker was back in the code of a new application.
According to Check Point, the malware is identified again on the Play Store. “We recently discovered four additional samples of Joker on Google Play, downloaded more than 130,000 times,” according to the report. As a reminder, Joker is malware capable of subscribing its victims to paid services without their knowledge.
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The list of Android applications infected by Joker or Haken malware
In recent weeks, Check Point has also discovered the existence of new malware on the Google Play Store, Haken. It is malware only intended to generate advertising revenue. Hidden in the code of 8 applications of the Play Store, the malware clicks instead of its victims on pop-up advertisements. It aims to get money from advertisers. It damages the performance and autonomy of the infected smartphone. Here is the list of applications contaminated by Joker or Haken:
- Kids coloring
- Compass
- qrcode
- Fruits coloring book
- Soccer coloring book
- Fruit jump tower
- Ball number shooter
- Inongdan
- Reyflow Phote
- Mely Wpaper
- Landscape Camera Plus
- Vail SMS Plus
Google is expected to ban these apps in the coming weeks. As always, Check Point advises to read reviews and comments before installing an app, and often a quick glance in the comments section helps prevent unpleasant surprises. For security, we also advise you to opt for an Android antivirus. Have you installed any of the applications from the list? We await your testimony in the comments.
Never heard of any of the above….
Also super helpful with those very generic app “names” listed
Just red the article, and it said something about the apps coming back to the play store, well, it’s a no brainer, Google is a money grabbing network, and when these people produce these apps again and again and give Google money, of course they’ll let it in the play store, what really needs to happen is, a big virus in the Google company so that the management will have no choice but to delete all these apps, and most of them are bull, battery supercharger, your phone is setup to get the charge that it needs in a save manner, when you add more current to your phones battery, then it can explode, but there’s a lot of, how to put it, idiot’s out there that will believe that they can somehow charge there phone quicker through a “app”…., guess you learn a lot of shit on Facebook, twitter and all the other useless social media crap site, oh and fake news, I’m just hoping that one day Google will get this virus, it’ll be a high light for a lot of people, apart from teenagers and people that are glued to there phone 20 hrs a day, and most likely people will give bad reviews what I wrote, but the truth hurts….
lame list, need more info like what qr code, is that qr code reader???
bozo’s….
If you’re installing a landscape camera you’re an idiot, in fact if you install any of those apps listed above you are once again an idiot. Every phone made in the last 5 years comes with every one of those functions.
Well ain’t that wacky! I still have all three phones I bought in the last 5 years and not one came with any of those apps/functions. Of course, most seem like kids apps and wallpaper crap, but zero compass or qrcode built in functionality on my Nexus 6, Moto G5+ or Essential PH-1.
HOW WEIRD!
Your phone cant take pictures in landscape mode?! Or read a QR code?! What a garbage phone dude… My samsung s6 could do every one of the above things except maybe the children’s coloring book, maybe I should have changed idiot to child. I wasn’t trying to offend anybody who genuinely needs these functions on their phone and has to get them from third parties, it’s just easy to tell from the names and publishers that these apps are weak.
Absolutely not calling you an idiot or a child for the record lol