Google actively works to combat malware found on the official Android app store – Google Play. But there is no doubt it could improve its screening process in the app approval stage, thereby preventing the problem rather than looking for a cure. Google rival Apple’s App Store also has millions of apps, but it doesn’t have a significant malware problem, thanks to its stringent approval process. In the latest damning report about the state of Google Play, researchers claim to have found there are over 2,000 malware-laden apps present on Google Play, all of which are copycats of some of the most popular apps out there.
According to a report by Computer World, researchers from the University of Sydney and CSIRO’s Data61 have investigated more than a million apps on the Google Play Store to find out that there are many apps that are counterfeits and malware-laden. The report mentions that while some apps are malware free, they request for dangerous data access permissions. The report also adds that popular games such as Temple Run, Hill Climb Racing, and Free Flow are the most commonly copied games.
The investigation was done by the researchers using neural networks, and found that…
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-play-store-malware-fake-counterfeit-apps-csiro-data61-university-of-sydney-2059127