Watch Out ​Scammers Put a Bogus Android Security Patch app In Google Play

Scammers put a fake Android security patch app in Google Play to infect smartphones. The
bogus patch, packaged as an app, was briefly available in Google Play
and purported to fix the so-called QuadRooter bugs that were revealed by
security firm Check Point last week.

QuadRooter consisted of four bugs
that affect as many as 900 million Android smartphones with Qualcomm
chips inside. Devices could be compromised if users installed a
malicious app that exploits the bugs. Google has released patches for
three of the four bugs, and will provide a patch for the fourth bug in a
future update. 

But while the fixes are already available for
Google’s own Nexus devices, it’s still not known which handsets from
Google’s Android partners have received the update. Likely though, very
few. Sony last week promised to soon release the patch for certain
Xperia devices, according to Android Authority. Perhaps
exploiting the uncertainty about which devices will receive the Android
security updates, scammers published two Android apps on Google Play
that claimed to fix QuadRooter flaws but instead serve unwanted ads.

Google has now pulled the two offending apps from Google Play. Both
were both called “Fix Patch QuadRooter” from a publisher Kiwiapps Ltd. The same ruse has been
employed to infect Windows systems with malware, but on Android a more
common cover for spreading malicious apps is to rig bogus versions of
popular games.“What
worries me, for example, is that fake patches – on top of having the
potential to really attract users’ attention – have a valid reason to
require every possible permission,”.

Google
has stepped up pressure on Android device makers and carriers to more
promptly deliver patches it creates, however the only devices that are
guaranteed to receive Google’s monthly security updates are its own
Nexus line. Devices from other manufacturers, particularly older
models, often never receive the patches. This confusion over timing and
delivery arguably could prompt concerned Android owners to go in search
of a security fix. 

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