Images used by at least 60 games from the Google Play Store are spreading viruses on Android phones

According to a security firm in Moscow named Dr. Web, several apps found in the Google Play Store are infected. To sneak past the "security guards," the trojan is not found inside the game but is inside pictures employed by the game. Dr. Web found 60 infected games made by 30 companies. None of the titles are popular, original games. In fact, most of them would be considered knockoffs of popular titles.

At the heart of the virus is the Android.Xiny.19.origin Trojan, which can install unwanted programs on your handset. This mostly comes in the form of adware, but it could be worse. In addition, your phone's unique IMEI number is sent to a remote server, which allows the bad guys to identify your specific device and tamper with it more.

Most of the infected games are still listed in the Google Play Store. While it isn't known whether the software publishers are in on it, names listed on malicious games include BILLAPS, Conexagon Studio and Fun Color Games. Besides staying away from apps listed by these publishers, it would also be wise to stick to the original version of games that you want to install from the Play Store. In other words, stay away from knockoffs.

Now that we can see that some viruses are being hidden inside images used by games in order to avoid detection, you can expect Google to dispatch software updates that tighten the access that hackers have to these images.


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source: Tom'sGuide