[ad_1]
One of the supposed advantages of the modern application shops is to facilitate badysis and guarantee that the software you download is not harmful or malicious. But with over 2.1 million apps on Google Play, sometimes things do not work as they should. This seems to be precisely the case with at least 19 different free navigation apps based on Google Maps, but with an additional layer of ads.
• Flash applications masking malware from banks in the Google Play Store
• False WhatsApp has been downloaded over a million times on Google Play
Discovered for the first time by ESET's researcher on Lukas Stefanko malware, the 19 tested navigation apps had more than one million downloads each, totaling a combined base of more than 50 million. Unfortunately, despite claims that such apps can help users trace routes or include tools such as the compbad and speedometer, all apps were based on Google Maps or its badociated API to accomplish their tasks.
I have tested more than 15 years. fake GPS navigation apps with more than 50,000,000 installations of #GooglePlay that violate Google's policies.
These apps simply open Google Maps or use their API without any extra value for the user. Some of them do not even have the icon of the appropriate application. Lukas Stefanko (@LukasStefanko) January 17, 2019
(I've tested more than 15 fake GPS navigation apps with over 50 million GPS Google Play downloads that do not comply with Google's rules .These apps only open Google Maps or use their API, without adding value to the user other than displaying advertisements, some even do not have appropriate icon .) [19659002] The main difference between these imitations and the current Google Maps is usually a redesigned home screen or a user interface with a few different settings – often these changes have been stolen. This screen allowed ads to appear while hiding the fact that the application actually copied Google data.
To make things more disturbing, some of these Google Maps clones. they sometimes requested permission to access the phone dialer from the device, as well as other features that a map application would not normally have. need. What is even more annoying is that even though several star critics try to warn other users that these imitations of Google Maps were not legitimate, many applications still had overall ratings above four. stars. It appears that many of these apps violate the Google Maps Terms of Service, which states that customers may not redistribute or create overrides to Google Maps' core services and transmit them as Google's own. was acting from something else
]
Google Maps copies like these typically include misleading screenshots or stolen user interface elements to conceal the fact that they take everything from Google Maps. Screenshot: Sam Rutherford / Gizmodo
Since then, Stefanko has denounced the 19 offensive apps that he has encountered. In the end, the good conclusion to draw from all this is to remember that there are only a few companies that are really capable of collecting very detailed map information.
detailed. These are the cases of Google, Apple, Here and a few others. So unless you really appreciate the special features of a particular application, such as alerts issued by other users you receive on Waze (which belongs to Google and is based on Google Maps for information from general location), it's better. go directly to the source and use one of the most famous map applications instead of using everything you find in digital stores.
[via Bleeping Computer]
[ad_2]
Source link
