Millions of Samsung users were massively
misled by an “updates” app which actually has nothing to do with Samsung. The app tried to harvest money in exchange for
security updates.
The app was spotted by a group of
researchers on the Google Play Store which was targeting Android users and the
ones with Samsung phones in particular.
The app which has now been taken
down would take the users to ad-filled pages and ask them for money in return
for security updates and firmware.
Per the report shared by the
malware analyst who discovered the application, the malware app was named “Updates
for Samsung” and was installed by more than 10 million users.
The fake application lured the
users in by claiming to make available free and paid Samsung updates whereas
Samsung never actually charges for its legitimate firmware updates.
In addition the report cites that
the app suggested the users a free download for a limited speed of 56KBps and
took around 4 hours to get the 500MB download done with it, only to time-out at
the end and fail.
Then of course the other option
would be a premium annual subscription to download the updates with fast speed
for around $34.99 (Rs. 2,400.76). Also, the app would pop a lot of ads and ask
for payment to remove them.
In the list of all the “amazing
provisions” of the aforementioned app, another was SIM card unlocking for nay
network operator with the starting price of $19.99. (Rs. 1,371.73)
The name of the fake app which was
maliciously designed to target the users of Samsung pretty well kept up to the expectations
of the cyber-cons and got millions of installations.
The report additionally alluded to
the fact that app doesn’t include any malicious code in itself and is simply a
tactic which could be used by cyber-cons to fool people.