Malicious apps drive Google Play downloads

According to BleepingComputer, malware was distributed through more than 200 apps in the Google Play Store and was downloaded a total of nearly eight million times between June 2023 and May 2024.

The most prevalent among the malicious payloads in the downloaded apps – most of which were tools – was the information-stealing Joker malware, followed by adware, Facebook account credential stealers called “Facestealer”, the Coper infostealer, and the Loanly installer, a report from Zscaler ThreatLabz showed.

India and the US recorded the most mobile malware infections last year, with the education sector hit hardest by such breaches, researchers reported. Google stated that all malware has already been removed from the Play Store, while emphasizing the protection offered by Google Play Protect.

“Android users are automatically protected from known versions of the malware mentioned in this report by Google Play Protect, which is enabled by default on Android devices with Google Play Services,” a Google spokesperson said.