Google has announced that it has taken down 60 gaming apps from the Play Store. This development comes after security firm Check Point revealed in a blog post that many apps in the Play Store are infected by malicious software which displayed pornographic advertisements and in some cases even tried to make users subscribe to premium services at their own cost.
Going by the name of AdultSwine, the code apparently hides itself in the apps and once the users have downloaded any of these apps, it begins its operations.
Concerns over this are high because of the fact that many of the now-deleted apps were meant for children as well. According to Google’s Play Store data, the apps have been downloaded three to seven million times.
Apart from displaying inappropriate ads and making users pay for unwanted subscriptions, the code, because of its nature, can get into more critical areas such as credential thefts.
In its blog post, the security firm said, “Although for now this malicious app seems to be a nasty nuisance, and most certainly damaging on both an emotional and financial level, it nevertheless also has a potentially much wider range of malicious activities that it can pursue, all relying on the same common concept.
The malicious code simply receives a target link from its Command and Control server and displays it to the user. While in some cases this link is merely an advertisement, it could also lead to whatever social engineering scheme the hacker has in mind.”