As outlined earlier, all the affected apps performed legitimate functions like turning on the flashlight, reading QR codes, and even helping users convert measurements. However, while these apps functioned as they should, the one thing common with them was that they silently downloaded additional code without the user’s explicit permission. This malicious code helped the developers of these apps commit ad fraud.
Once the malicious code was downloaded, these apps used Google’s own Firebase Cloud Messaging Platform to repeatedly open specific websites in the background and click on ad links — all happening without any user intervention. The code also lets these apps mimic the behavior of a typical smartphone user. In addition, the malicious code was also designed to do all of this discretely without the smartphone user touching his phone. Below, we have mentioned the names of all the apps confirmed to have been affected by this malicious ad fraud.
- Cozy Camera
- Smart Task Manager
- Flash Plus
- Memo Calendar
- WordBook
- BusanBus
- Candle Protest
- QuickNote
- Smart Currency Converter
- Barcode
- Ezdica
- Instapp
- Tingboard
- Flashlite
- Calcul
- ImageVault
Apart from helping the developers of these apps make illegal ad money, this fraud mechanism also led to increased data consumption and poor battery life on affected devices. In case you have any of these apps installed on your smartphone, now would be a good time to uninstall them.
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