Hackers are constantly developing new ways to abuse little people. According to McAfee cybersecurity experts, a new trend is emerging this year. This consists of offering false downloads that pretend to be popular apps such as Call of Duty or FaceApp by copying their icon, design and description. Once installed, the fraudulent applications change their icon to resemble that of the phone settings, just to go unnoticed and make it more difficult to uninstall.
Applications can then deploy to the phone and display false security or error notifications. Believing that these are legitimate messages from the system, the user will tend to accept the message, unconsciously opening their phone access to hackers.
In most cases, the goal of these hidden apps is to make money, says researcher Raj Samani. This is why they install adware without the knowledge of their victims. The infected phones then display a large number of advertisements, indirectly generating income for hackers.
A disturbing increase
According to the McAfee report, attacks via hidden applications would represent 50% of malicious activity in 2019, an increase of 30% compared to the previous year.
Most of these applications are offered on the web, outside of official stores such as the Play Store. Hackers try to lure their victims by offering free (fake) cracked versions of paid applications. McAfee researchers advise against relying on it and only downloading apps from official stores.
They also advise you to sort through the applications installed on your smartphone. Some may not be what they claim.
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- Computer virus
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- High-Tech
- Cybersecurity