Android : Google Bans Apps With Hidden Data-Harvesting Software

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https://bgr.com/tech/google-just-banned-dozens-of-android-apps-that-secretly-stole-data/

Google banned dozens of apps from the Google Play store after discovering that they were secretly harvesting data, The Wall Street Journal reports. According to WSJ, the Panama-based company Measurement Systems S. de R.L. wrote the code that appeared in those apps. That code linked back to a US defense contractor “that does cyberintelligence, network-defense and intelligence-intercept work for U.S. national-security agencies.”..

Here’s a list of the most popular affected apps, in case you want to check your devices:

Speed Camera Radar
Al-Moazin Lite (Prayer Times)
WiFi Mouse(remote control PC)
QR & Barcode Scanner
Qibla Compass – Ramadan 2022
Simple weather & clock widget
Handcent Next SMS-Text w/ MMS
Smart Kit 360
Al Quran Mp3 – 50 Reciters & Translation Audio
Full Quran MP3 – 50+ Languages & Translation Audio
Audiosdroid Audio Studio DAW
If you have any of these apps on your Android devices, delete them right away…

1 user thanked author for this post.

Fred

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Thank you, deleted QR&Barcodescanner

* _ ... _ *

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? says:

thank you, Alex! “Measurement Systems,” must have upset the supreme data harvester?

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Google wasn’t getting their cut

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Just how many ‘QR & Barcode Scanner’ s do you think there are?
The question is which one is the problem.

From forbes @
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/04/06/google-reportedly-bans-dozens-of-apps-containing-spyware/?sh=21dbd8f42657

Contra

Some apps that previously contained Measurement Systems’ malware, including Speed Camera Radar, WiFi Mouse(remote control PC), QR & Barcode Scanner, Qibla Compass – Ramadan 2022, Simple weather & clock widget and Handcent Next SMS-Text w/ MMS, are already back on the Google Play store.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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