Friday, February 26, 2021
  • Setup menu at Appearance » Menus and assign menu to Top Bar Navigation
Advertisement
  • AI Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Machine Learning
    • Neural Networks
    • Learn to Code
  • Data
    • Blockchain
    • Big Data
    • Data Science
  • IT Security
    • Internet Privacy
    • Internet Security
  • Marketing
    • Digital Marketing
    • Marketing Technology
  • Technology Companies
  • Crypto News
No Result
View All Result
NikolaNews
  • AI Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Machine Learning
    • Neural Networks
    • Learn to Code
  • Data
    • Blockchain
    • Big Data
    • Data Science
  • IT Security
    • Internet Privacy
    • Internet Security
  • Marketing
    • Digital Marketing
    • Marketing Technology
  • Technology Companies
  • Crypto News
No Result
View All Result
NikolaNews
No Result
View All Result
Home Internet Privacy

Over 50 Android Apps for Kids on Google Play Store Caught in Ad Fraud Scheme

March 24, 2020
in Internet Privacy
Over 50 Android Apps for Kids on Google Play Store Caught in Ad Fraud Scheme
585
SHARES
3.3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

More than 50 Android apps on the Google Play Store—most of which were designed for kids and had racked up almost 1 million downloads between them—have been caught using a new trick to secretly click on ads without the knowledge of smartphone users.

Dubbed “Tekya,” the malware in the apps imitated users’ actions to click ads from advertising networks such as Google’s AdMob, AppLovin’, Facebook, and Unity, cybersecurity firm Check Point Research noted in a report shared with The Hacker News.

You might also like

Russian Hackers Targeted Ukraine Authorities With Supply-Chain Malware Attack

Chinese Hackers Using Firefox Extension to Spy On Tibetan Organizations

The Top Free Tools for Sysadmins in 2021

“Twenty four of the infected apps were aimed at children (ranging from puzzles to racing games), with the rest being utility apps (such as cooking apps, calculators, downloaders, translators, and so on),” the researchers said.

While the offending apps have been removed from Google Play, the find by Check Point Research is the latest in an avalanche of ad fraud schemes that have plagued the app storefront in recent years, with malware posing as optimizer and utility apps to perform phony clicks on ads.

Malware Abuses MotionEvent API to Simulate User Clicks

Stating that the campaign cloned legitimate popular apps to gain an audience, the newly discovered 56 apps were found bypassing Google Play Store protections by obfuscating its native code and relying on Android’s MotionEvent API to simulate user clicks.

Once an unwitting user installed one of the malicious apps, the Tekya malware registers a receiver, an Android component that’s invoked when a certain system or application event occurs — such as a device restart or when the user is actively using the phone.

The receiver, when it detects these events, then proceeded to load a native library named “libtekya.so” that includes a sub-function called “sub_AB2C,” which creates and dispatches touch events, thereby mimicking a click via the MotionEvent API.

An Ongoing Problem of Mobile Ad Fraud

Mobile ad fraud manifests in different ways, including threat actors planting malware-laced ads on user phones or embedding malware in apps and online services to generate clicks fraudulently to receive payouts by advertising networks.

Mobile security vendor Upstream’s analysis of 2019 data revealed that the favorite apps for hiding ad-fraud malware are those that purport to improve productivity or improve device functionality. Nearly 23 percent of the malicious Android ads that Upstream encountered last year fell into this category. Other apps that attackers frequently used to hide malware included gaming apps, entertainment, and shopping apps.

Google, for its part, has been actively trying to stop rogue Android apps from infiltrating the Google Play Store. It has leveraged Google Play Protect as a means to screen potentially harmful applications and also forged an “App Defense Alliance” in partnership with cybersecurity firms ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium to reduce the risk of app-based malware.

To safeguard yourself from such threats, it’s recommended that you stick to the Play Store for downloading apps and avoid sideloading from other sources. More importantly, scrutinize the reviews, developer details, and the list of requested permissions before installing any app.


Credit: The Hacker News By: noreply@blogger.com (Ravie Lakshmanan)

Previous Post

Know New Outlay of Machine Learning Market By Top Key Players International Business Machines, Microsoft, Sap, Sas Institute, Amazon Web Services

Next Post

New York asks domain registrars to crack down on sites used for coronavirus scams

Related Posts

Russian Hackers Targeted Ukraine Authorities With Supply-Chain Malware Attack
Internet Privacy

Russian Hackers Targeted Ukraine Authorities With Supply-Chain Malware Attack

February 26, 2021
Chinese Hackers Using Firefox Extension to Spy On Tibetan Organizations
Internet Privacy

Chinese Hackers Using Firefox Extension to Spy On Tibetan Organizations

February 25, 2021
The Top Free Tools for Sysadmins in 2021
Internet Privacy

The Top Free Tools for Sysadmins in 2021

February 25, 2021
Everything You Need to Know About Evolving Threat of Ransomware
Internet Privacy

Everything You Need to Know About Evolving Threat of Ransomware

February 25, 2021
Online Trackers Increasingly Switching to Invasive CNAME Cloaking Technique
Internet Privacy

Online Trackers Increasingly Switching to Invasive CNAME Cloaking Technique

February 25, 2021
Next Post
New York asks domain registrars to crack down on sites used for coronavirus scams

New York asks domain registrars to crack down on sites used for coronavirus scams

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Plasticity in Deep Learning: Dynamic Adaptations for AI Self-Driving Cars

Plasticity in Deep Learning: Dynamic Adaptations for AI Self-Driving Cars

January 6, 2019
Microsoft, Google Use Artificial Intelligence to Fight Hackers

Microsoft, Google Use Artificial Intelligence to Fight Hackers

January 6, 2019

Categories

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data
  • Blockchain
  • Crypto News
  • Data Science
  • Digital Marketing
  • Internet Privacy
  • Internet Security
  • Learn to Code
  • Machine Learning
  • Marketing Technology
  • Neural Networks
  • Technology Companies

Don't miss it

Attorney-General urged to produce facts on US law enforcement access to COVIDSafe
Internet Security

Attorney-General urged to produce facts on US law enforcement access to COVIDSafe

February 26, 2021
Machine Learning & Big Data Analytics Education Market: Soaring Demand Assures Motivated Revenue Share During 2020-2030 – KSU
Machine Learning

Machine Learning & Big Data Analytics Education Market: Soaring Demand Assures Motivated Revenue Share During 2020-2030 – KSU

February 26, 2021
This chart shows the connections between cybercrime groups
Internet Security

This chart shows the connections between cybercrime groups

February 26, 2021
Basic laws of physics spruce up machine learning
Machine Learning

New machine learning tool facilitates analysis of health information, clinical forecasting

February 26, 2021
Creative Destruction and Godlike Technology in the 21st Century | by Madhav Kunal
Neural Networks

Creative Destruction and Godlike Technology in the 21st Century | by Madhav Kunal

February 26, 2021
Spy agency: Artificial intelligence is already a vital part of our missions
Internet Security

Spy agency: Artificial intelligence is already a vital part of our missions

February 26, 2021
NikolaNews

NikolaNews.com is an online News Portal which aims to share news about blockchain, AI, Big Data, and Data Privacy and more!

What’s New Here?

  • Attorney-General urged to produce facts on US law enforcement access to COVIDSafe February 26, 2021
  • Machine Learning & Big Data Analytics Education Market: Soaring Demand Assures Motivated Revenue Share During 2020-2030 – KSU February 26, 2021
  • This chart shows the connections between cybercrime groups February 26, 2021
  • New machine learning tool facilitates analysis of health information, clinical forecasting February 26, 2021

Subscribe to get more!

© 2019 NikolaNews.com - Global Tech Updates

No Result
View All Result
  • AI Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Machine Learning
    • Neural Networks
    • Learn to Code
  • Data
    • Blockchain
    • Big Data
    • Data Science
  • IT Security
    • Internet Privacy
    • Internet Security
  • Marketing
    • Digital Marketing
    • Marketing Technology
  • Technology Companies
  • Crypto News

© 2019 NikolaNews.com - Global Tech Updates