In order to curb malicious apps getting a hold of people’s mobile phones, Apple has banned 15 apps from the App Store after they were found infected with malware.
The apps were banned after Wandera, a firm that develops mobile security solutions, discovered these apps committing ad-fraud, according to a report by India Today.
The firm discovered a total of 17 such apps out of which Apple has banned 15 apps and the remaining two are under investigation.
Wandera discovered that 17 apps on the App Store were infected with clicker trojan malware. These apps were designed to commit ad-fraud. These apps when clicked opened a click on ads and webpages in the background.
Trojan is a type of malware that is often able to pass as legitimate software. Trojans can be employed by cyber-thieves and hackers trying to gain access to users’ systems.
"The clicker Trojan module discovered in this group of applications is designed to carry out ad fraud-related tasks in the background, such as continuously opening web pages or clicking links without any user interaction. The objective of most clicker Trojans is to generate revenue for the attacker on a pay-per-click basis by inflating website traffic. They can also be used to drain the budget of a competitor by artificially inflating the balance owed to the ad network," Wandera’s website post reads.
The website also posted a list of the apps that were banned. They belonged to a set of random categories like productivity, travel, and utilities.
Here are the names of these apps - RTO Vehicle Information, EMI Calculator & Loan Planner, File Manager - Documents, Smart GPS Speedometer, CrickOne - Live Cricket Scores, Daily Fitness - Yoga Poses, FM Radio - Internet Radio, My Train Info - IRCTC & PNR (not listed under developer profile), Around Me Place Finder, Easy Contacts Backup Manager, Ramadan Times 2019, Restaurant Finder - Find Food, BMI Calculator - BMR Calc, Dual Accounts, Video Editor - Mute Video, Islamic World - Qibla and Smart Video Compressor.
Several apps from the Google Play Store have also been removed in the past for similar reasons.
