Comes in these 13 apps

virus, or malware, is a threat that causes great concern to users of any technological device with Internet access. Through them, criminals can easily access your camera, microphone, account and other elements that invade your privacy.

(Also read: Alert of increasing cyber attacks in Colombia: 4 ‘phishing’ attempts occur every minute).

Fortunately, it is common to have antivirus installed on computers. However, many users are still unaware of its existence malware for mobile devicesEven hidden in some of the most installed applications.

In the case of Android, a new study has revealed that More than 300,000 people have installed a virus that disguises itself as an application available in the Google Play store,

He malware is called ‘Zamlicious’And was detected by antivirus company McAfee, which is part of the App Defense Alliance program, in which experts around the world work together to ensure the cyber security of cell phone users.

According to the technology portal ‘ADSL Zone’, what ‘Xmalicious’ does on your cell phone is access, through the permissions that the user gives the app before using it, real-time information on the device, such as location, personal data. and many more.

The malware is said to be used to commit various types of fraud, such as ‘cash magnet’ applications, which attract adware to infected mobile phones without the user knowing. In the long term, reducing cell phone performance and capacity.

(You may be interested in: How to know if you are a victim of hacking? These are some signs that may alert you).

McAfee’s investigation revealed that the first application infected with the virus was available on the official Google Store from 2020, There are 13 in total, and three of them have been installed over 100,000 timesWith particular dominance in Brazil, Argentina, the United Kingdom, the United States, Mexico and Colombia.

Google Play has already removed the applications from its catalog, but it does not remove them from the devices of those who downloaded them, which, according to data collected by McAfee, was 338,300. So, it is necessary If you have any of these applications, remove them from your cell phone immediately,

What are the applications?

The three apps that have over 100,000 downloads per capita, and therefore are most likely to be on your device, are the following:

Then, the ones downloaded on 1,000 to 10,000 cell phones are:

(Point of interest: Update your iPhone: Apple has released a patch against Pegasus, the software that ‘cracks’ the phone).

And finally, with less than 500 installations, the following apps close out the list:

The list of apps was collected by ‘Adsl Zone’. Remember that there are applications with similar names or similar functions that are not necessarily infected with viruses. Please check carefully before removing the name.

Alejandro Victoria Toban

Digital Scope Editorial

Time

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