Detected 205 malicious applications with more than 32 million downloads on Google Play only in last July

Lukas Stefanko, ESET's malware researcher, discovered 205 malicious applications on Google's store in just July. The total number of downloads of these applications has reached over 32 million.

According to data compiled by Lukas Stefanko, out of the 205 applications, 188 apps were found to contain hidden ads. Downloads of these applications are 19.2 million, a pretty big number.

The rest of the applications are in the form of registration or advertising scams, stalkerware, fake antivirus tools, fake applications, adware and backdoors built-in software. In particular, 3 registered fraudulent applications have reached 12 million downloads.

Most notable is a special type of adware. After being downloaded and installed on a user's device, the icons of this application will be hidden from the main screen and display annoying ads, greatly affecting the user experience. It seems that Google is gradually weakening in the fight against malicious Android software.

Currently Google has not given any feedback on the above information, so it is not yet known whether the technology giant has removed these malicious applications.

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