The Israeli security firm Check Point discovered 60 game applications with software malfunctions that people around the world were continuously downloading. As it was explained on its official website this Friday, these apps that Google already took down from Play Store showed ads with explicit, pornographic content. Additionally, some of them were games specifically aimed at children.
This app is called Adult Swine. And, as Check Point explained, it sought to make users want to download false security apps by showing them pornographic ads. To make matters worse, the application also suggested owners upgrade it to premium services, making them pay for them.
A Google spokesperson told the Financial Times that all the 63 applications affected by Adult Swine were already taken down from Google’s store. Additionally, it informed that the accounts of the developers were disabled and that the warnings will be continually shown on any person’s phone who had downloaded the app.
The Google’s speaker also thanked Check Point for its work and for keeping “users safe.”
A thread to children
Once downloaded, the Adult Swine code started functioning just after the owner unblocks its phone for the first time. Among the app reviews that people can leave on Google Play Store, one individual warned not to install the application on a kids’ smartphone. Then, it wrote that it committed that mistake and that a “bunch of filthy hardcore porn pictures popped up” when its son opened it.
Check Point also informed that the bug’s configuration lets the app hide its icon among the others. Thus, making it hard to remember or easily deletable.
Other apps showed fake notices. For instance, one could inform that the phone was affected by the virus, offering a link additionally to download another fake virus cleaner.
Likewise, some asked the users to write their phone numbers after telling them they had won a prize. This way, the application could register the individual’s information and offer premium services.
There’s a Google application called Google Play Protect that informs users when another app is infected. This one continually scans the device, and remove any app that finds threatening.
Google told The Verge that there’s also a Family collection in its store that lets parents find appropriated content for their children. Additionally, it suggested a program named Family Link. This one manages which application kids can use.
The multinational company based in Mountain View, California, also said that it’s continually reviewing the ads in the apps, and categorizing which can be shown to children.
Unfortunately, the 63 application affected were not in the Google Play protect’s base.
Source: Check Point