If you have these apps on your phone, you should act quickly

Security experts from Kaspersky are in Apps at Google Play as well as in third-party app stores came across an old friend: The Trojans Necro, which was first discovered in 2019 and is now circulating in an improved version. According to that report The malware uses steganography to hide in the code of the affected apps and is therefore even more difficult to detect than before.

So far, users in Russia are said to have been particularly, but not only, affected. The Trojan has also appeared in Germany.

The Trojan spies and displays advertisements

For those affected, Necro has two main effects: Firstly, devices can be spied on via the malware. And secondly, affected users, among other things Advertising through which the attackers can generate income.

The Trojan was found in a total of two apps on Google Play. The first is “Wuta Camera Nice Shot Always,” which has been downloaded more than 10 million times.

Already cleaned versions are safe

This app is still in the App Store and can also be downloaded there. According to the developers, all versions from issue 6.3.7.138 onwards have already been cleaned up.

Users of the app should therefore check whether they are using a secure version of the app. If not, you should uninstall the app immediately and check your device with an antivirus program.

Nobody should use the second app anymore

The news portal Android Police also recommends changing important passwords as a precaution. The second app that was infected by the Trojan is “Max Browser-Private & Security”.

This app with more than 1 million downloads was infected since version 1.2.0 and has now been deleted from the app store by Google. This is exactly what all users who have installed the app should do.

Google Play offers a comparatively high level of security

In addition to Google Play, third-party providers who offer modified versions of popular apps via unofficial app stores or websites are also affected by the cyber attack. Specifically, it’s about “GBWhatsApp”, “FMWhatsApp” and “Spotify Plus”.

These are even more vulnerable to attacks. At Google Play there is at least ever-tightened control in the form of Play Protect. This feature is usually enabled by default and is intended to check apps from the Play Store for security before installing them.

The experts currently do not know how Necro was able to survive this security check.

Useful and less useful password tips