Security firm Lookout discovered at least 500 Android apps distributed through the Google Play Store that contained Igexin, a software development kit. The SDK allowed crooks to develop malicious programs to spy on users.
Lookout explains that these apps, whose names it did not disclose, exceeded 100 million downloads on the Google Play Store and belonged to very popular categories, such as games aimed at teenagers, weather apps, Internet radios, photo editors, travel apps and emoji.
Google appears to have already removed the apps in question from the Play Store, meaning there is no longer any risk. Those who have installed apps that look suspicious should scan their devices with some reputable security software.
Using an SDK to serve malicious apps to Android devices is a new tactic that allows malicious developers to deploy malware on phones and tablets using “clean apps.”
Lookout says the Igexin SDK provides spying capabilities and that the developers may not have been aware of it.
“It is possible that many app developers were unaware that their app was leaking personal information from their customers’ devices as a result of integrating Igexin’s ad SDK. It took a deep analysis of the app and SDK behavior by our researchers to make this discovery. The functionality is not only obvious, but can also be modified at any time by a remote server,” Lookout researchers report.
