Cybersecurity experts have warned Android users of a popular application on the Google Play Store, which has reportedly affected 10 million devices.
At the end of last year, cybersecurity experts at MalwareBytes began receiving reports about the Barcode Scanner app from LAVABIRD, which has been downloaded more than 10 million times.
Users who downloaded the app reported that ads were suddenly opening from the default browser on their Android device.
Malware Bites Foundation received a notification that the cause of this problem was the "Barcode Scanner" application, and the application was removed from the "Google Play" store after Malware Bites notified Lafabird.
It was discovered that the application - which appeared to be harmless for years - turned into a "full of malware" application after the update.
Malware Bytes experts revealed the threat in an online post, and said, "In the case of Barcode Scanner, malicious code was added that was not present in previous versions of the app. Moreover, the added code used extreme opacity to avoid detection."
In their study, Malware Bites experts also shared a short video clip showing the suspicious code in action.
Users are informed that the new update of the application activates unwanted ads in the browser from nothing, and the browser heads to a spam page with an annoying advertisement trying to get the target user to download an application.
If you previously downloaded a Barcode Scanner, MalwareBites recommends removing the application manually.
"It's hard to tell how long a barcode scanner has spent in the Google Play Store as a legitimate app before it became malicious," Malluer Bates added. "One of the apps is malicious. Was this the plan all along? For the app to be idle, waiting for the big hit after it reaches the largest number of users? I think we'll never know."