Google Play Store riddled with thousands of dodgy copycat apps – here’s the ones to look out for
THE GOOGLE Play Store is full of dodgy fake apps and games, according to the recently published results of a two year study.
Researchers found that the Play Store contained thousands of possible malware-ridden counterfeit apps as Google continues to try and up its security measures.
The research was conducted by researchers from the University of Sydney and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO) Data61.
Over one million apps on the platform were analysed and an alarming number were discovered to be counterfeit and potentially dangerous to download.
The study stated: “We were able to find 2,040 potential counterfeits that contain malware in a set of 49,608 apps that showed high similarity to one of the top-10,000 popular apps in Google Play Store.
“We also [found] 1,565 potential counterfeits asking for at least five additional dangerous permissions than the original app and 1,407 potential counterfeits having at least five extra third-party advertisement libraries.”
Among the most counterfeited apps were popular games like Temple Run, Free Flow, and Hill Climb Racing.
The researchers discovered the counterfeit apps by creating a tool that could identify apps with similar icons that had been designed to trick users.
With this method the team managed to find one million suspicious apps.
They then categorised them all into which apps they were supposed to be emulating and found that 49,608 apps had potential counterfeits.
All of these apps were then checked for malware.
The researchers did note that around 35% of the apps they found are no longer available to download because they were “potentially removed due to customer complaints.”
Google continues to try and protect its users with Google Play Protect, which aims to protect Android devices from any potentially harmful applications.
Earlier this year, a Google spokesperson noted: “Keeping the Android ecosystem secure is no easy task, but we firmly believe that Google Play Protect is an important security layer that’s used to protect users devices and their data while maintaining the freedom, diversity and openness that makes Android, well, Android.”
It is always recommended to triple check the app you are downloading is the real version and you can often do this by looking at the rating and reading the reviews and description.
Apps to be cautious when downloading
When using the Google Play Store, triple check you're downloading legitimate versions of these apps...
- Games – including Temple Run, Free Flow, and Hill Climb Racing
- Fitness trackers
- Photo editors
- Finance management tools
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In other news, the Google Play Store recently had to remove a number of popular apps after they were found to contain well-hidden advertising ‘plugins’, which could ‘break’ phones.
Google Android users are going to get their own version of iMessage this month – but it’s vulnerable to hackers.
And, Android users are being warned about a battery-saver app that steals your texts, phone numbers and location.
Do you have any of these apps on your phone? Let us know in the comments…
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