Attackers have once again managed to slip passed Google Play’s verification process to place two malicious apps into Google’s popular marketplace.
The tech giant recently removed the malicious apps that could have allowed the cyber miscreants to root infected devices, according to a Threat Post report.
Roman Unuchek, a security expert at Kaspersky Lab, said the malicious apps, Magic Browser and Noise Detector, were each a vehicle for the Ztorg Trojan, which can send Premium rate SMS and delete incoming SMS.
Magic Browser, which resembled Google’s Chrome browser, was installed a total of 50,000 times since it was first uploaded to Google Play on May 15. Noise Detector, featuring the same malicious functionality, was installed more than 10,000 times, according to Unuchek.
Ztorg apps are known for their large number of downloads, such as the infected Pokémon Go guide that received 500,000 downloads before it was removed in September, according to Ars Technica.
