Android users are being warned to immediately delete a number of apps as they have been infected in a new cyberattack.
Cybercriminals are once again targeting Android devices in an attempt to trick unsuspecting users into divulging their personal and financial information.
In this latest wave of attacks, users are advised to delete infected applications immediately. Hackers are trying to increase their profits through an advanced form of ad fraud. By embedding malicious ads in apps, hackers can slow down infected devices while making financial profits. The Satori Threat Intelligence and Research team identified this new threat, called SlopAds.
Researchers found that 224 Android apps were compromised in this attack, having been downloaded more than 38 million times via the Google Play Store. This comes after the TSA warned that a specific smartphone is now banned on ALL flights.
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Slop ads
The team’s security specialists said: “HUMAN’s Satori Threat Intelligence and Research team discovered and disrupted a sophisticated ad fraud and click fraud operation dubbed SlopAds.”
“The threat actors behind SlopAds operate a growing collection of 224 apps, collectively downloaded from Google Play more than 38 million times in 228 countries and territories.
“These apps deliver their fraud payload using steganography and create hidden WebViews to navigate to cash-out sites owned by threat actors, thereby generating fraudulent ad impressions and clicks. The threat actor infrastructure and many applications share an AI theme, contributing to the operation’s name.
Google managed to remove all the offending apps, ensuring that no new users will fall victim to ad fraud.
If you are worried that you may have installed one of the apps infected with the SlopAds bug, don’t worry. The security team ensures that all affected users will receive a warning and be asked to uninstall the problematic apps.
To protect against future attacks, Android users are strongly encouraged to enable Google’s Play Protect feature in the App Store.
This tool alerts users to potentially corrupted apps before installing them and also blocks any future apps exhibiting behavior associated with SlopAds.
Ad fraud not only harms device users but also reputable advertisers and developers as hackers trick the network into accepting their infested ads.
Google clarifies: “Ad interactions generated with the intention of deceiving an ad network into believing that the traffic comes from a genuine user interest constitutes ad fraud, which is a form of invalid traffic.
Advertising fraud
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“Ad fraud can be the result of developers implementing advertisements in unauthorized ways, such as displaying hidden advertisements, automatically clicking on advertisements, altering or modifying information, and exploiting non-human actions (spiders, robots, etc.) or human activities designed to produce invalid ad traffic.
“Invalid traffic and ad fraud are harmful to advertisers, developers and users, and lead to a long-term loss of trust in the mobile advertising ecosystem.”
If Android users receive a warning to remove an infected app, they should immediately follow these tips to protect their device.
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