New malicious applications from Google Play were installed more than 18,000 times

The company "Doctor Web," warned of the appearance in the catalog next Google Play malicious applications for smartphones and tablets running Android. To date, they were installed more than 18,000 times. Owners of affected units at risk of losing about $ 100 for paid SMS-message is sent to malware without their knowledge. Detected applications use already familiar to attackers monetization scheme, namely the sending of SMS-messages with a high tariff value. At the same time, they are somewhat different from most of these programs, experts say. After starting one of these applications on your mobile device, a message and two buttons. The report said that in order to gain access to the requested content, click "Next."

For most users this will be enough to follow the advice. When you click the second button from the owner of the mobile device can read an existing agreement, however, despite its presence, it does not give complete information on this application. For example, to obtain more detailed information about our services, the user must call a specific number, but the number itself is not represented in the text. In case the user will continue to work, the application will attempt to download and install another software package, which is located in the cloud file storage Dropbox. The program itself performs the function of sending a premium-SMS. At present the specialists of "Doctor Web" was found two developers, these programs are disseminated in the official catalog of applications, as represented by Google Android Security - the unit responsible for the security of the platform - was informed and after some time the application was removed from Google Play . However, the number of users who have completed the installation of these programs has exceeded 18,000, experts say.