McAfee mobile security team has discovered malware called Goldoson. It is currently circulating on the Android platform on the Google Play Store. More than 60 applications are infected and they accumulate more than 100 million downloads.
We find out in an article by McAfee’s mobile research team.
This “malware” is part of a third-party library that developers of 60+ apps have been using without knowing.
These apps have been downloaded over 100 million times to date.
How does Goldoson infect our Android devices?
According to McAfee researchers, malicious Goldoson virus disguises itself in more than 60 Android apps on Google Play Store to steal our information.
In the case of Goldoson virus, its library registers the target Android device and remotely obtains configurations to send to its own servers. Goldoson’s library can load web pages without users’ knowledge.
Hackers could intercept our personal information and GPS location and send advertisements to us to get lots of profit.
Running ads in the background can drain our device’s battery and use mobile data.
Some apps containing the “malware” have been removed from the Google Play Store. While others have been updated by the developers to fix the problem.
Some apps infected with Goldoson
Although 60 applications were identified as infected, it must be noted that a large proportion of them are of Korean origin. Still, there’s a chance there are some in the batch that aren’t in Korean.
Here is the list of some apps with the most downloads:
- Pikicast
- GOM player
- Infinite cut
- L.POINT with L.PAY
- Wipe Brick Breaker
- Bounce Brick Breaker
- LOTTE WORLD magic pass
- Compass 9: Smart compass
- LIVE score, real time score
- SomNote – Beautiful note app
- GOM Audio – sync music, lyrics
- Money manager expenses and budget
For the full list of infected applications, see the McAfee article.
How can we protect our Android devices from malicious virus?
There are tips to avoid downloading a virus to your Android device, but the best protection is to use an antivirus program on your phone or tablet.
Yes, some have basic protection like Knox on Samsung, but these solutions are not infallible. Especially since they need updates to their database to identify new threats.
The problem is that these updates are too often monthly, sometimes every 3 months or even completely absent when our device is too old and no longer supported by the manufacturer.
A full antivirus is ideal, updated daily to make our Android phone and/or tablet even safer!
The best antivirus programs for Apple’s Android and iOS phones and tablets
6 clues to find out if our Android phone is infected with a virus