Google was on the deletion spree on wiping out 25 applications from the PlayStore. This happened after the news was revealed that there are some applications that are stealing Facebook login information. Google took the step instantly, which resulted in the reverse engineering of the malware that helped people to protect their Facebook data.
Apart from the malicious codes, those applications also contained malicious features. The types of applications that Google has removed are games, video editors, wallpapers, flashlights, and file managers, and many more.
List of Applications removed by Google
Google removes 25 applications from the Playstore as they all have violated the security protocols by stealing Facebook log-in data:
- Padenatef
- Wallpaper level
- Super wallpaper flashlight
- Videomaker
- Contour level wallpaper
- Color Wallpaper
- iPlayer & iWallpaper
- Pedometer
- Super bright flashlight
- Powerful flashlight
- Solitaire game
- Classic card game
- Accurate scanning of QR code
- Junk files cleaning
- File manager
- Composite Z
- Daily Horoscope wallpaper
- Plus weather
- Wuxia reader
- Anime live wallpaper
- Com.tqyapp.fiction
- iHealth Step Counter
- QR Code
- Synthetic Z
- Screenshot capture
How did those Applications work?
After several analyses by the experts, they found out that when users installed those applications on their phone, the malware searches for the Facebook name. After that, it will ask you to create an account and log in via Facebook. Facebook also failed to detect those applications as malware as they were displayed as the legitimate applications in the PlayStore.
Now, when you enter your Facebook login credentials, the application will launch a javascript code to gather the credentials. It sends the information to the host server and the task is done. It is indeed an incredible technique of stealing or rather hijacking data.
The Removal of Extensions
Not only applications but Google also removed a bunch of Chrome extensions from the Chrome store. Just like the malicious applications, those extensions are also malicious and the counted number is 111. After getting all the details, Google deleted 106 of them. The extensions also collected cookies to steal all the vital information. Moreover, it also kept track of your day to day activity and all the information you have.
Not only cookies but it also used to gather your information from system clipboards, keystrokes, and others. In addition to that, those malicious extensions also have the ability to take a screenshot of your activity and send it to the host.
