McAfee warns users about fake Android appsSeptember 10, 2013 - 17:42 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Security firm McAfee is warning people to be on the lookout for fake Android apps that pretend to be one thing but just relentlessly send advertising, the Inquirer reports. According to the security outfit the apps are designed to look like real ones. There are ones for boosting power, and some pornographic ones. Whatever they purport to be though, they aren't, and McAfee said that they are just shells for shill operations. Yukihiro Okutomi, a mobile malware researcher at the firm is not keen on the apps and has blogged about them, what they do and why they do it. They do it, he said, in order to serve advertising messages over and over and over again. "These apps seem to offer no functionality based on their titles, stating 'increase Internet speed' and 'phone hacking,' for example," he said. "Once installed by the victim, the apps appear to work at first but in fact they simply display screens with interactions that are all fake, using hard-coded or random values generated by the code to seem legitimate. In short, these apps are fake or joke applications. These apps also bundle several components that relentlessly show advertisements after the user closes the app." Users are advised to source their apps from reputable outlets, and we would assume that this means the Google Play store in the case of Android apps. "As always, users should never install unknown or untrusted software. This is especially true for illegal software, such as cracked applications," added Okutomi. "They are a favorite vector for malware infection." Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Armenian, Azerbaijani heads of parliament meet in Switzerland President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Border residents overnight on highway to protest Armenia’s Residents of Kirants continue to express outrage over the government’s decision to cede land to Azerbaijan. Get Started: An educational platform for young startuppers The Get Started program which operates in two phases is an important platform for young startuppers. Byblos Bank Armenia celebrates Students' Day with scholarship recipients YSU students who received scholarships from Byblos Bank Armenia gathered in a casual setting to meet with the Bank's CEO, Hayk Stepanyan. |