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Which are the two apps?<\/b><\/p>\n
In a blog post, Pradeo said that its both applications are from the same developer, \u201cpose as file management applications and feature similar malicious behaviours.\u201d The apps in question are \u201cFile Recovery & Data Recovery\u201d and \u201cFile Manager\u201d. <\/p>\n
How did the apps \u2018spy\u2019 on users?<\/b><\/p>\n
According to Pradeo, these apps are programmed to launch without users\u2019 interaction, \u201cand to silently exfiltrate sensitive users\u2019 data towards various malicious servers based in China.\u201d
The two apps claim that they do not collect any data from users\u2019 devices. Pradeo found that this was inaccurate and that the apps were indeed collecting user data.<\/p>\n
What is the kind of data that these apps collected?<\/b><\/p>\n
Among the data collected by these were users\u2019 contacts, pictures, audio and video files, network provider name, OS version number, device brand and model, country code and more.
Pradeo has alerted Google about these apps but they still exist on the Play Store. Users are advised to delete them if they have installed them. However, as per the blog, these apps aren\u2019t easily uninstalled. \u201cBoth of these malware use this technique to make their uninstallation harder. To delete them, users require going to the application list in the settings,\u201d said Pradeo.
Also, Pradeo has three security tips for downloading apps:<\/p>\n