Adware programs are a common threat to our mobile phones and computers . Their job is to display unwanted and malicious advertisements on the victim's screen.
If users click on the ads, they will be taken to malicious pages, which collect personal information and use it for advertising purposes.
Adware applications on Google Play
Kaspersky researcher Tatyana Shishkova has identified four such adware apps on Google Play. What's more worrying is that these four apps have more than 16,100,000 installs in total .
These applications continuously display ads, every time the user opens new pages.
Many users complain about the random ads. “It randomly pops up even when the app isn’t open. It also asks for permission for a bunch of random things. Plus, it pops up ads every time you do something in the app. Just don’t download it, it’s a waste of time and probably malware .”
Adware was a very popular threat in 2019. It mainly targeted Android. Since Android is very popular, hackers have turned to it to find more victims.
In recent months, there have been many incidents of devices being infected with adware that exclusively target users and offer millions of dollars to cybercriminals.
In combination with adware, other malware and spyware may appear , causing even greater problems on victims' devices
Security tips
- Never download apps from third-party app stores
- Even popular stores (Play Store) can have malicious apps. Therefore, you should be careful, and look for information about the app before downloading it. Read comments from other users. They are very useful.
