There’s no denying that the notorious Play Store from Google is loaded with helpful apps to make the lives better for most of us. But even so, you know what they say that there’s no such thing as perfection. The same applies for the official marketplace for Android devices (aka Google Play Store), whether we like it or not.
The PhantomLance Trojan backdoor has been identified as an advanced form of malware infecting apps from the Play Store and stealing users’ data since 2016. Kaspersky Labs had raised the alarm, offering more details into what the malicious piece of software is capable of.
More dangerous than expected
The PhantomLance Trojan backdoor is a really pesky thing. It’s hard even to detect, and it has the ability to get its evil virtual hands on all the info from an infected phone. The malware is able to provide the hackers with text messages, lists of installed apps, location data, call logs, and other precious info about the infected device.
Found in cleanup apps
The ironic part is that the PhantomLance Trojan backdoor was found in apps that are claiming to clean up your phone from junk files. Also, apps that were destined to get rid of ads were also infected with the malware.
The first targets for PhantomLance have been some users from Vietnam, but the infected apps had also been downloaded for other regions of the world. OceanLotus is suspected to be the hacking group behind the trojan, as they have a history of malware attacks performed towards desktop operating systems.
Google removed the infected apps from its Play Store, so there’s no use of being afraid anymore. However, you should focus on being very cautious anytime you download something from the internet, whether it’s from the Play Store or not. There’s no such thing as 100 percent safety while you’re navigating online, but you must do your part for eliminating the threats.
