14 DAY TRIAL // The number of ill-intended apps for Android has started to increase as security researchers observed that more and more repackaged software is present in unofficial marketplaces offering content for the mobile platform.
The trend has been noticed in Chinese app stores in particular, but it can also expand to other regions of the world.
Companies add their own code during app repackaging or localization
Researchers at Trend Micro studied the phenomenon and determined that crooks rely on two separate tactics, both having roughly the same objective: tricking the user into installing software that can lead to financial damage or at least to extreme annoyance.
“First, foreign apps that have been localized or repackaged by Chinese companies and used for various schemes. Secondly, paid/premium apps can be repackaged by pirates to produce a ‘free’ version that contains ads or other added code. In either case, there is a risk that the repackaged code may be malicious,” writes in a blog post Veo Zhang, mobile threat analyst at the security company.
He says that some companies contracted by the original developers to localize an app may include code for displaying advertisements and collecting the money themselves. In some cases, users may be tricked into clicking a button that makes a payment via SMS.
Zhang said that the ads can collect the location of the user, the phone model and the list of installed apps without users’ consent, or even intercept payment notices.
Pirated “free” apps pose a higher risk
In the business of repackaging paid apps, the crooks tamper with them in order to show the victim a never-ending cycle of advertisements for different services, software part of affiliate marketing schemes or spyware masquerading as a security app that asked for root privileges, as Zhang found in his research.
In one instance, the researcher found an altered version of the Monument Valley game that included an advertisement library and promoted phoney messages that led to scams luring the potential victim with purchase offers for mobile devices, iPhone included, for only $100 / €94.
However, the user is asked for personal details like name, phone number and address. This information is then used to call the user and demand a prepaid shipping fee.
Zhang conducted the research based on the lists of the most popular apps, many of them repackaged, available at major Chinese app stores. Getting to top positions is influenced artificially through fake downloads and commercials.
