Google has always recommended using its Play Store for different reasons, although not a few users use other stores to download different applications . While it is true that these alternatives offer us many benefits, it must also be clear that we are much more exposed to malicious content.
In most cases, the malware authors are the main culprits, but in others, as in the case of APK Pure , the owner of the app may be at fault. So if you are one of those people who use this alternative store, we recommend doing it as soon as possible because with the new update the continuous arrival of malware on your mobile phone is corrected.
How was it discovered?
Kaspersky Lab researchers were the ones who alerted the APKPure developers that they had experienced a security threat. As reported, this could affect our terminal in the massive entry of unwanted ads and, through some of them, they could have installed malware on mobile devices. The affected application was APKPure version 3.17.18, but don’t worry, there is already a new version available that will put an end to this problem.
What could happen to our mobile
This malware was run in order to extract data from the victim’s phone without their consent. In addition, it was able to play ads on the mobile screen while it was locked. However, that was not the point, since another of the characteristics of the malicious code was to load additional software in the terminal. And the source of the malware was its new SDK , the adware that the developers of this alternative store had recently implemented.
From what is known, the negative effect on users will depend on the version of Android and the security patches that the terminals have. Although in the vast majority of cases, users who have been infected have been bombarded with advertisements and paid subscriptions. And in the worst case, people who have previous versions will not have the same luck, because it is very difficult to kill such malware. It would even be practically useless to factory reset our terminal.
Source> Kaspersky
