“Joker”—the malware that indicators you up for expensive companies—floods Android markets

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September has been a busy month for malicious Android apps, with dozens of them from a single malware household alone flooding both Google Play or third-party markets, researchers from safety corporations mentioned.

Generally known as Joker, this household of malicious apps has been attacking Android customers since late 2016 and extra just lately has change into some of the widespread Android threats. As soon as put in, Joker apps secretly subscribe customers to expensive subscription companies and may also steal SMS messages, contact lists, and system data. Final July, researchers mentioned they discovered Joker lurking in 11 seemingly reliable apps downloaded from Play about 500,000 occasions.

Late final week, researchers from safety agency Zscaler mentioned they discovered a brand new batch comprising 17 Joker-tainted apps with 120,000 downloads. The apps had been uploaded to Play regularly over the course of September. Safety agency Zimperium, in the meantime, reported on Monday that firm researchers discovered 64 new Joker variants in September, most or all of which had been seeded in third-party app shops.