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When it comes to online security, no news is good news. Sure, online threats are constantly evolving and we need to hear about new dangers and how to deal with them, but you don\u2019t want to keep hearing about security issues relating to a single product. This is why it’s disappointing to hear about another bunch of malware apps that have been removed from the Google Play Stor. What\u2019s worse,\u00a0before they were removed from the Play Store, they\u2019d been downloaded over 2 million times<\/a>.<\/p>\n These are the most expensive (and absurd) apps in the Google Play Store<\/p>\r\n Read Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n According to a report by security experts, Sophos<\/a>, Google has removed 22 apps from the Google Play Store for containing backdoor malware. Unsuspecting users who downloaded the apps unleashed a plethora of problems onto their devices and created backdoors for hackers to then secretly download files from their own servers.<\/p>\n The 7 security tips you really need to know<\/p>\r\n Read now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n From there, the problems for users who downloaded any of the 22 fraudulent apps grew further. The apps click on fraudulent ads and drain battery power in the process. They also continue to run in the background, even after they\u2019ve been closed, draining both battery power and mobile data. Although the apps have been removed from the Play Store, there is a chance some users still have the apps on their phones. Below is a full list of the apps:<\/p>\n Sparkle FlashLight, Snake Attack, Math Solver, ShapeSorter, Tak A Trip, Magnifeye, Join Up, Zombie Killer, Space Rocket, Neon Pong, Just Flashlight, Table Soccer, Cliff Diver, Box Stack, Jelly Slice, AK Blackjack, Color Tiles, Animal Match, Roulette Mania, HexaFall, HexaBlocks and PairZap.<\/p>\n If you have any of the above apps on your phone, you should delete them immediately.<\/strong><\/p>\n Incidents like this one are being reported much more frequently and represent a real headache for Google. Over the last 18 months, we\u2019ve reported on hundreds of malware infecting apps being removed from the Play Store<\/a>, that have stacked up downloads in the hundreds of millions.<\/p>\n 5 tips to prevent security issues with your phone \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n \r\n 8 tricks to strengthen your WhatsApp security \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n 7 mistakes that put your internet security at risk \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n \r\n 8 tricks to boost your security on Google Chrome \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n More than ever, we are responsible for our own security when browsing the web and downloading apps and programs. If you want to ensure that you stay safe when using the internet, there are a number of key things to remember. You should only ever download apps from trusted sources, like Softonic, and you should always check the developer listed with the program you are thinking of downloading. Another key point to remember is to look at reviews. Reviews from other users offer the best way of verifying whether a program is legitimate or not. For more tips on avoiding fake apps in the Google Play Store<\/a>, check out our tutorial below.<\/p>\n How to detect fake apps in the Google Play Store in just 3 steps<\/p>\r\n Read now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Google forced to pull even more malware filled apps from the Play Store<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":116335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[1082,2422,1083,1027],"usertag":[839],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-116332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-android","tag-app-subdomain-redirectiongoogle-play","tag-ios","tag-security","usertag-vpn"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326837,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116332\/revisions\/326837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116332"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=116332"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=116332"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=116332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n ![](\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/10\/burn-money-rich-192.jpg\")
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