Judy Android Malware: Checkpoint security researchers claim to have discovered possibly the largest malware campaign on Google Play Store, which has already infected around 36,5 million Android devices with ad-click software.
Η company Checkpoint blogged over 41 Android apps from a Korean company on the Google Play Store that are reportedly earning money for their creators by generating fake ad clicks from the infected devices.
All malicious applications, developed by Korea-based Kiniwini, were released under the name ENISTUDIO Corp and contained an adware program called "Judy" by researchers. Judy, as we mentioned earlier, was used to generate false clicks aimed at generating advertising revenue.
In addition, researchers also uncovered some other apps, which were published by other developers in the Google Play Store, and inexplicably contain the malware itself.
Η connection μεταξύ των δύο εκστρατειών παραμένει ασαφής, αν και οι ερευνητές πιστεύουν ότι είναι πιθανό ο ένας προγραμματιστής δανείστηκε τον code from the other, "knowingly or unknowingly".
"It is very unusual to find an organization behind a malware campaign, as most of them are developed purely by malicious (standalone) users," say CheckPoint researchers.
Apps available on the Play Store do not contain malicious code to bypass Google Bouncer protection.
Once the download and installation are done, the application silently logs the user on a remote control server and in response receives the real Malware malware (Judy Android Malware) that contains a JavaScript that starts the actual malicious process.
Malicious apps appear to be genuinely legitimate games, but in the background they act as a bridge to connect the victim's device to the adware server.
Once the connection is established, malicious applications corrupt the user agents of the browser to "play" the browser to open pages and generate clicks.
The following is a list of malicious applications developed by Kiniwini (click on "Malicious Applications" to open the list). If you have any of these installed on your device, remove it immediately:
Google has already removed the above apps containing Judy Android Malware from the Play Store, but since Google Bouncer did not recognize them as a malicious thing at the outset, it would be to watch what you downloaded.
