Google removes 43 Android apps that load ads when phone screen is off
The Hindu
Google removed 43 Android apps with 2.5M downloads for displaying ads when device's screen is off. To protect, users should check Battery Usage & disable background use of apps, read reviews & permissions.
Google removed 43 Android apps with 2.5 million collective downloads from the app store. The apps were found to be violating Google Play Developer policy, loading ads while the device’s screen is off.
While loading ads when a device’s screen is turned off may seem convenient, the applications could affect not just a device’s battery but also increase data consumption and pose potential risks such as information leaks and disruption of user profiling, McAfee said in a blog post.
Among the removed apps were TV/DMB Player, Music Downloader, and News and Calendar applications. The applications were mainly media streaming apps, and their target audience was predominantly Korean, however, the same deceptive tactics could be used by other app categories to target users in other parts of the world.
The apps were found to deliberately delay the initiation of their fraudulent activities, creating a latent period from the time of installation to avoid detections and inspection. They were also found to have intricate configurations which could be remotely modified and pushed using Firebase Storage or Messaging service, making it difficult to detect their fraudulent behaviour, the post said.
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The apps were also found to request permission to draw over other apps which would allow them to overlay pages on other apps. These tactics are generally used by threat actors to perform phishing attacks on e-banking apps.
While most users would be unable to detect such activities, one of the most obvious signs of apps using deceitful means to show ads would be an inexplicably high battery consumption when the device is not being used.
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.