Have any of these apps installed on your Android device? Delete them now – they’re stealing your data

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Another day, another slew of Android apps attempting to steal your data.

The Google Play Store recently deleted 25 apps from its marketplace trying to steal data via a Facebook login workaround.

This was all uncovered by Evina, a French cybersecurity firm that published its findings several weeks ago.

In the report, the company claims that apps found to be stealing user data were simplistic programs, like flashlight and wallpaper apps.

To read it straight from the source, here’s Evina explaining how these malicious apps work:

“When an application is launched on your phone, the malware queries the application name,” the company explains. “If it is a Facebook application, the malware will launch a browser that loads Facebook at the same time. The browser is displayed in the foreground which makes you think that the application launched it. When you enter your credentials into this browser, the malware executes javascript to retrieve them. The malware then sends your account information to a server.”

Pretty scary stuff, huh?

But enough of how they work, you’re probably here because you want to know which apps were affected and if any of them are currently living on your phone.

With that said, here are all the apps that were given the boot from the Google Play Store:

Thankfully, if you have any of these apps running on your phone, Google disabled them from the user end.

If these apps were living on your Android device, you are now safe from any potential data breach.

However, when this report was presented to Google in May, it took Google a couple of weeks to investigate and remove the affected apps from the Play Store.

So there’s a possibility some users were still affected, and you should probably update your login credentials.

Either way, if you have any of these apps installed on your Android device, I would suggest deleting them immediately.

Even if Google disabled them from the user end, who’s to say these attackers aren’t using another way to fish for your data.

And with that said, be careful of the apps you install on your phone. Read the reviews, see how many installs were performed, and just do your due diligence.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.