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Driving apps pulled from Google Play Store for installing malware

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Some of the apps secretly infecting users with malware.
Some of the apps secretly infecting users with malware.

Image: softonic / screengrab

2016%2f10%2f18%2f6f%2f2016101865slbw.6b8ca.6b5d9By Sasha Lekach2018-11-21 00:16:57 UTC

As many as 13 games available to download in the Google Play Store were actually Android malware and downloaded more than 560,000 times, a security researcher said this week.

The apps, listed as car and truck simulators and racing games, are no longer on the store. TechCrunch reports that an Android security researcher found that the games were just a cover to download malware in the background.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the apps were removed from the store, “Providing a safe and secure experience for our users is our top priority. We appreciate the researcher’s report and their efforts to help make Google Play more secure. The apps violated our policies and have been removed from the Play Store.”

The apps all came from a developer named Luiz O Pinto. A page on app discovery portal Softonic lists all the apps the researcher says were infecting users and that Google has since removed. On that site, every app lists zero downloads.

If the 560,000 installs is an accurate number, this is one of the biggest breaches the Google Play Store has experienced. 

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