If you're among the 100,000+ Android users who've installed these apps, it's time to hit delete
UPDATE: After doing a little more social media digging, we've gathered a bunch of other Android apps pulled from Google's Play Store of late following malware-spreading reports from several different mobile security researchers and cyber protection firms.
By no means shocking given the long and "prolific" history of the Joker (even outside Batman comics and movies), this news and the accompanying list below should definitely make you think, check, and delete... anything and everything you might have doubts about.
For what it's worth, these apps probably never managed to reach the popularity of the four titles listed further below, but that doesn't mean you're not among the unlucky few who were fooled into installing them with misleading names and useful-sounding (albeit fairly basic) features:
- Painting Photo Editor
- Smile Bubble Message
- Themed Emoji Keyboard
- Fun Smart Message
- Fun Text Message
- Cute Emoji SMS
- Quick Talk Message
- Custom Picture Caller Show
- Talk SMS
- Text Launcher SMS
- Shadow Galaxy Wallpaper
- Face Emoji Maker
- Simple Keyboard
Our original post follows below.
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That's... not quite what we can say about the newest such group detected and confirmed by Pradeo to carry a type of "fleeceware" colloquially referred to by the collective name Joker. While all four apps listed below seem to have disappeared from Google Play in the wake of this report, their installation totals had already managed to approach dangerous territory:
- Smart SMS Messages - 50,000+
- Blood Pressure Monitor - 10,000+
- Voice Languages Translator - 10,000+
- Quick Text SMS - 10,000+
Overall, more than 100,000 Android users are estimated to be in jeopardy of getting "fleeced" this time around, which is obviously worse than the impact of some other malware-spreading campaigns in the past but also considerably lower than a few of the most catastrophic similar estimates in recent memory.
There's nothing smart about a malicious app with over 50K Play Store downloads.
As many of you mobile security enthusiasts out there are probably well aware, Joker is by no means a new threat, lurking in the Play Store's shadows for several years now as it makes its way from a generically named app to another... thousand rather discreetly, subscribing users to bogus "premium" services without their approval (or even knowledge) and thus slowly draining their bank accounts.
In addition to deleting the four aforementioned malicious apps from your Android phone or tablet, which is naturally the first thing you should do when threatened by a disease of this sort, it might be a good idea to check your bank statements for any unauthorized or shady payments and, if possible, change your financial login credentials just to be extra-safe.
Because Joker-infected apps will often "drop" other mischievous apps without user authorization, it's generally wise to comb through your full list of installed titles from time to time and try to remember if you actually downloaded them all while also asking yourself if you truly need everything that's in there.
Last but not least, getting ExpressVPN could save you a lot of trouble in the future, protecting your online privacy and improving your mobile security at a relatively low (monthly or yearly) cost with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee included.
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Things that are NOT allowed: