Evasive Adware Infiltrated 85 Photography and Gaming Apps on Google Play Store

An evasive family of adware posed as 85 photography and gaming apps available for download on the Google Play store.

Trend Micro observed that the adware, detected as AndroidOS_Hidenad.HRXH, had infiltrated 85 apps available for download on Google Play. Those programs boasted a combined total of 8 million downloads at the time of detection. The security firm disclosed its findings to Google, at which time the tech giant’s researchers removed the apps from Google Play.

Once launched, the malicious apps recorded the current time and network time from an infected device. They then registered a Broadcast Receiver to help monitor if a user was present after someone had woken up the device. The apps arrived with techniques through which they could evade time-based detection techniques or other capabilities employed by traditional sandboxes. Beyond those tactics, the apps hid their icons, created a shortcut on the home screen and used Java reflection to further avoid analysis.

Hidden Adware on the Play Store

Threat actors have a history of concealing adware on the Google Play store. In November 2018, Trend Micro came across several apps on the Play store disguised as voice messenger platforms that sought to generate fraudulent ad clicks and automatically display fake surveys.

Several months later, Check Point uncovered 206 applications infected with SimBad adware, which had collectively registered close to 150 million downloads on the Play store. And in June 2019, Lookout discovered 238 applications available for download on the Google Play store that each harbored BeiTaPlugin, adware that rendered an infected device nearly unusable.

How to Defend Against Mobile Threats

Security professionals can help defend their organizations against mobile threats by using artificial intelligence-powered solutions that use context and other information to determine whether certain device behaviors are legitimate. Companies should also leverage a unified endpoint management (UEM) solution to monitor how devices interact with the environment and flag anything that might appear suspicious.

David Bisson

Contributing Editor

When ransomware kills: Attacks on healthcare facilities

4 min read - As ransomware attacks continue to escalate, their toll is often measured in data loss and financial strain. But what about the loss of human life? Nowhere is the ransomware threat more acute than in the healthcare sector, where patients’ lives are literally on the line.Since 2015, there has been a staggering increase in ransomware attacks on healthcare facilities. And the impacts are severe: Diverted emergency services, delayed critical treatments and even fatalities. Meanwhile, the pledge some ransomware groups made during…

AI and cloud vulnerabilities aren’t the only threats facing CISOs today

6 min read - With cloud infrastructure and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI) systems becoming prime targets for attackers, security leaders are laser-focused on defending these high-profile areas. They’re right to do so, too, as cyber criminals turn to new and emerging technologies to launch and scale ever more sophisticated attacks.However, this heightened attention to emerging threats makes it easy to overlook traditional attack vectors, such as human-driven social engineering and vulnerabilities in physical security.As adversaries exploit an ever-wider range of potential entry points…

4 trends in software supply chain security

4 min read - Some of the biggest and most infamous cyberattacks of the past decade were caused by a security breakdown in the software supply chain. SolarWinds was probably the most well-known, but it was not alone. Incidents against companies like Equifax and tools like MOVEit also wreaked havoc for organizations and customers whose sensitive information was compromised.Expect to see more software supply chain attacks moving forward. According to ReversingLabs' The State of Software Supply Chain Security 2024 study, attacks against the software…

Security Intelligence

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

Topics

Hidden Adware on the Play Store

How to Defend Against Mobile Threats

More from

When ransomware kills: Attacks on healthcare facilities

AI and cloud vulnerabilities aren’t the only threats facing CISOs today

4 trends in software supply chain security

Topic updates