Joker Malware infects 24 Android apps

Another day, another batch of Android apps on Google Play Store have been found infected by a new Joker Malware. Even as Google is running a tight ship, ensuring several safety checks, sneaky malware somehow manages to infect popular apps. Here is all you need to know about the newly discovered Joker malware.

Joker Malware detailed

Discovered by security researcher Aleksejs Kuprins, the malware is designed to silently sign users up for subscription services. And this isn’t something users will easily notice unless they diligently check their monthly credit card statements. As many as 24 apps with over 472,000 downloads have been infected by the malware.

“For example, in Denmark, Joker can silently sign the victim up for a 50 DKK/week service (roughly ~6,71 EUR). This strategy works by automating the necessary interaction with the premium offer’s webpage, entering the operator’s offer code, then waiting for a SMS message with a confirmation code and extracting it using regular expressions. Finally, the Joker submits the extracted code to the offer’s webpage, in order to authorize the premium subscription,” Kuprins said in a Medium post.

List of apps infected by Joker malware: Advocate Wallpape, Age Face, Altar Message, Antivirus Security – Security Scan, Beach Camera, Board picture editing, Certain Wallpaper, Climate SMS, Collate Face Scanner, Cute Camera, Dazzle Wallpaper, Declare Message, Display Camera, Great VPN, Humour Camera, Ignite Clean, Leaf Face Scanner, Mini Camera, Print Plant scan, Rapid Face Scanner, Reward Clean, Ruddy SMS, Soby Camera, Spark Wallpaper.

—Zee Media Newsroom