Three Apps on Google Play Click on Ads in the Background - Without the User's Knowledge

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Ad hackers are becoming more sophisticated in stealing budgets from advertisers. Symantec researchers discovered three malicious apps on Google Play that collected ad revenue by clicking on ads while running in the background.

The three apps used three separate techniques:

  • Delayed attacks
  • Self-naming tricks
  • An attack list received from a command and control server [C&C]
Each of these techniques is relatively common on their own, but have not been seen together. 

You can read the full report from Symantec here.

At Protected Media, we've already flagged those apps as bots even before the post from Symantec. Since our technology can identify bots, regardless of the technique used, we were able to protect our clients from these malicious apps.

- Zac

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