{"id":7555,"date":"2015-02-04T11:23:21","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T16:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=7555"},"modified":"2015-02-04T11:23:21","modified_gmt":"2015-02-04T16:23:21","slug":"adware-infected-apps-in-google-play-store-were-downloaded-millions-of-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/02\/04\/adware-infected-apps-in-google-play-store-were-downloaded-millions-of-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Adware-infected apps in Google Play Store were downloaded ‘millions of times’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google has pulled numerous apps from its Play Store, after they were found to be infected with malicious software. A Nexus 5 owner named Andrei Mankevich was the first to spot this particular threat, which he discovered while he was trying to understand how his own handset had become infected.<\/p>\n

Mankevich posted his findings on the forum of security firm Avast, which today published details of its own investigation, describing the problem as “bigger than [they] originally thought.”<\/p>\n

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The malicious code buried in seemingly innocent apps causes pop-up messages to appear on the device; in some cases, this happens every time the device is switched on. These messages – many of which are written with a clear sense of urgency and impending doom – encourage users to visit sites to download additional software.<\/p>\n

This video, published by Mankevich, shows some of these notifications in action<\/p>\n