Researchers find 17 Google Play apps that bombard users with battery-draining ads

guest · Jan 14, 2020

Researchers find 17 Google Play apps that bombard users with battery-draining ads
Apps employed a variety of tricks to avoid detection by Google and infected users
January 14, 2020
https://arstechnica.com/information...that-bombard-users-with-battery-draining-ads/

Developers employed a variety of tricks to populate Google Play with more than a dozen apps that bombard users with ads, even when the apps weren't being used, researchers said on Tuesday.

Among the tactics used to lower the chances of being caught by Google or peeved users: the apps wait 48 hours before hiding their presence on devices, hold off displaying ads four four hours, display the ads at random intervals, and split their code into multiple files, researchers with antivirus provider Bitdefender reported.

"Users see multiple ads either in-game when pressing different buttons or even if not in the app," Tuesday's report said. "The frequency at which ads appear while in the game depends on a random value. In half the cases, there is a probability that when using some game functionalities, an ad pop up."
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In all, Bitdefender found 17 apps that use the same tactics. They were downloaded a total of 550,000 times. At the time this post went live, Google was in the process of removing the apps from Play. Google representatives didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment for this post. The apps are: [...]

Technically, the apps aren't classified as malware because they limit their hidden functions to displaying ads.
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Bitdefender: Seventeen Android Nasties Spotted in Google Play, Total Over 550K Downloads

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Researchers find 17 Google Play apps that bombard users with battery-draining ads

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