Beware, These 2 Android Apps Are Caught Sending User Data to China Without Permission

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – Do you often use Android apps on your smartphone? If yes, then you should be careful.

This is because cyber security researchers found that there were two malicious file management applications on the Google Play Store acting as spyware or capable of spying on victims’ activities.

This information was disclosed by Pradeo’s cybersecurity team. Citing their report, Wednesday (12/7/2023), the total installation of the two spyware applications reached 1.5 million.

The two spyware under the guise of an application are named File Recovery and Data Recovery, and File Manager. Still from the Pradeo report, both are made by the same developer.

“The spyware application was created by the same developer, and can be activated without having to interact with the user to steal sensitive data and send it to servers in China,” said the Pradeo team.

Even though it has been reported to Google, the two spyware applications are still available on Google Play. It is explained, File Recovery and Data Recovery identifies itself as “com.spot.music.filedate.”

It is known that the spyware has been installed on Android phones, reaching at least 1 million. As for File Manager, researchers report that the application has been installed on 500 thousand devices.

Both of these apps were discovered by Pradeo’s behavior analysis engine, and their description states, neither Android apps collect user data.

However, the fact is that both applications “suck” sensitive user information from devices, such as contact lists, photos, audio, video, user location, country code, network provider name, and more.

Even if the application has legitimate reasons to collect some of the above to ensure performance and compatibility, most data is not required for file management or data recovery functions.

Even worse, this data is collected surreptitiously and without obtaining Android phone user consent. Pradeo added that both apps hide their home screen icons to make them harder to find and remove.

They can also abuse the permissions that Android users agree to during installation to restart the device and launch it in the background.