Play Storedespite the undeniable commitments of Googleis a platform that by its very nature is a cybercrime risk.
In this sense, as reported by BleepingComputerthe discovery of a new series of malicious apps who managed to bypass the protections of the aforementioned service with relative ease.
We are talking about 5 appfor a grand total of 150.000 downloadwhich favored the spread of the banking Trojan He turned it on. The cases currently identified appear to affect Android users from several European countries, such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
What makes the situation worrying is the fact that these apps were introduced on the Play Store as actually legitimate software. Once the apps were accepted, the cybercriminals waited a week before “updating” them, making them an ideal vehicle for Anatsa.
The Anatsa banking trojan can empty an online bank account
The identified apps are PDF readers and file managers used in the Android environment. Specifically, these are:
- Phone Cleaner – File Explorer
- PDF Viewer – File Explorer
- PDF Reader – Viewer & Editor
- Phone Cleaner: File Explorer
- PDF Reader: File Manager.
Of the aforementioned apps, PDF Reader: File Manager it is the one that has obtained the highest numbers, reaching alone quota 100.000 download.
Although these were promptly removed from the Play Store, users are advised to remove them if they have already been installed on their device.
Like other similar cases, Anatsa acts by abusing the Android accessibility service. Through it, in fact, it obtains advanced controls on the infected device. The goal of cybercriminals is to exploit this trojan to obtain password e login datauseful information for accessing bank current accounts of the victims and dry them up.
This case demonstrates once again how relying on Play Store controls is not enough to guarantee the security of an Android smartphone. Caution and a good one antivirus they can certainly help drastically reduce the risks of cyber attacks.