Illustration of a smartphone.
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Pixabay
Barcode Scanner, a barcode reader application available on Google Play, suddenly changed its behavior.
Following an update proposed last December, the application began to display unsolicited advertisements on the phones of ten million users, reports
01net
.
It has since been removed from Google's app store.
This case was analyzed by Nathan Collier, a security researcher at Malwarebytes.
According to the specialist, the malicious code was particularly well hidden and could have tricked Google Play's detection tools.
This is why the malware has had time to spread to the millions of users who have performed the update.
Intentional dissemination or piracy?
After analysis, this change in behavior of Barcode Scanner is surprising, because the author of the update is the same one who initially signed the application.
So there are two options.
Either the developer was aware of providing malware with their update, or they were hacked, says
01net
.
All Barcode Scanner users are encouraged to remove the program from their device.
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Application
Google play
Android
Smartphone
Computer virus