We have seen that Android is plagued with plenty of apps that have malware inside them. However, you must be thinking that those apps would have very fewer downloads so it does not pose much of a problem. But we have a case where malware has been found inside possibly one of the most downloaded apps on Google Play Store right now. The app we are talking about is named as CamScanner app which must have been used by most of our readers. In fact, we were also using this app and have uninstalled it right now.
Talking about CamScanner app, it is a very handy utility app which lets you scan your documents. You just have to take a photo on your device and the app will scan it into a PDF file or black&white copy for you. But it is also known that attackers found a way to get inside the CamScanner app in recent times. Since the app has already been downloaded by 100M+ users on the Google Play Store, it is a huge security risk. So first of all, you should uninstall the app from your devices.
Since Google has already removed the app from its Play Store, no new users will be able to install it. Now, let’s talk about the malware found inside this app and the security risk it comes with. “It can be assumed that the reason why this malware was added was the app developers’ partnership with an unscrupulous advertiser,” says the researchers who found the malware inside this app.
They say that the malware is so powerful that hijackers can get remote access to your phone. There is a hidden Trojan dropper found inside the app which lets attackers install malware on your phone from anywhere. However, it should be noted that this happened with the latest update to the CamScanner app and it was not present since the beginning which meant that the malware was not detected by Google.