Millions of Android users are receiving an urgent warning about apps they have installed on their phones.
These apps contain highly intrusive adware, which not only slows down devices but also generates huge sums of money for cybercriminals!
Security experts at McAfee's Mobile Research Team say they discovered a total of 38 dangerous apps on Google's Play Store that claimed to offer Minecraft-style games. However, once downloaded, they flooded phones with this intrusive adware.
How intrusive and dangerous adware works
This type of malicious software secretly displays adverts in the background on the device, with the owner never knowing that their phone is being bombarded with paid advertising.
All the apps have now been blocked by Google, but unfortunately they have already been downloaded more than 34 million times. This poses a very serious problem.
“The popularity of Minecraft has led to many attempts to recreate similar games,” explained McAfee's Dexter Shin. “As a result, there are so many games worldwide based on the same concept as Minecraft.
Even on Google Play, we can easily find similar games. The McAfee Mobile Research Team recently discovered 38 games with hidden advertising.
These HiddenAds apps were discovered on the Google Play Store and have been installed by at least 35 million users worldwide. The full list of malicious apps can be found in McAfee's related blog post.
Below are nine of the most popular apps that you should remove immediately if you have installed them.
• Block Box Master Diamond
• Craft Sword Mini Fun
• Block Box Skyland Sword
• Craft Monster Crazy Sword
• Block Pro Forrest Diamond
• Skyland Forrest
• Block Rainbow Sword Dragon
• Craft Rainbow Mini Builder
• Block Forrest Tree Crazy
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