Android malware apps found
Some Android-based smartphones have been mining bitcoin virtual currency without the user’s knowledge.
Five smartphone apps were recently removed from the Google Play store after they were discovered to be covertly using Android devices to mine bitcoins, the virtual currency that can be used to buy products and services.
One way to obtain bitcoins is to virtually mine them, which involves using a lot of computing power to solve complex calculations. To get the job done, miners usually create systems with many computers.
It seems that at least one miner has turned to malware to take add unsuspecting people’s mobile devices to his or her mining system.
The mining apps that were recently removed had been advertised as wallpaper apps. Users thought they were just getting apps with cool smartphone background images, but the apps secretly used their phones to mine bitcoins for a stranger’s benefit.
While users performed other tasks on their devices, the apps worked out bitcoin mining calculations in the background. The malware was first identified by Lookout Inc., a company that makes security apps for mobile devices.
Lookout has a system that is constantly analyzing new apps for malware. It identified suspicious factors within these five apps, then confirmed they were malware apps mining bitcoins and notified Google Inc.
“Unless you have mobile security software that scans your apps ... it’d be hard to tell if you’re infected with mobile mining malware,” Michael Bentley, Lookout’s head of research and response, said in an email to The Times. “However, if your phone is rapidly losing battery power, overheating or generally behaving outside what you would consider normal, mobile mining malware could be the issue.”
The apps that were removed from the Google Play store are Beating Heart Live Wallpaper, Mens Club Live Wallpaper, Epic Smoke Live Wallpaper, Urban Pulse Live Wallpaper and Anime Girls Live Wallpaper. Lookout recommends that people uninstall these apps from their Android devices.