Half a Million Android Users were Tricked into Downloading Malware

The apps have since been deleted from the Google Play store.

malware
The Google Play store is under malware fire yet again. (Ore Huiying/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Bloomberg via Getty Images

More than 580,000 Android users have been tricked into installing malware software onto their phone through the Google Play store.

The virus posed as 13 different driving games in Google’s app store — two of which were being downloaded at such a high rate that they were trending at the time, TechCrunch reported.

It’s not clear yet what the malicious app’s intent was but researchers have been able to figure out so that the malware was created in Istanbul and is able to launch itself every time the device its downloaded onto is powered on, gaining “full access” to it.

The apps “violated our policies and have been removed from the Play Store,” Google spokesperson Scott Westover told the tech site.

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