Underlining the complex and ever-evolving nature of the modern-day threat landscape, Quick Heal Security Lab has recently detected Hiddad Malware on Google Play store. There are a couple of applications on Play Store which hide after installation and display full-screen ads after a specific time interval. Even if users want to uninstall these applications, they won’t be able to find it in the app manager as it was installed with the name ‘Google Play Service, Google Play Store’ and uses an icon of genuine apps such as Google Play Store, default Android icon or YouTube.
This type of malware is present on the Google Play store with more than 50k+ downloads. Quick Heal Security Lab has also reported this to Google and those applications have been removed from Play store now.
How to Uninstall?
Follow the below steps to uninstall such applications:
- Go to app manager in Setting
- Find out fake Google Play Store
If you still find it confusing, then there is a better way to uninstall such malware, using Antivirus. Antivirus detects malware and prompts to uninstall, and asks for uninstallation of such apps.
How to stay safe from fake mobile apps
- Check an app’s description before you download it.
- Check the app developer’s name and their website. If the name sounds strange or odd, you have reasons to suspect it.
- Go through the reviews and ratings of the app. But, note that these can be faked too.
- Avoid downloading apps from third-party app stores.
- Use a reliable mobile antivirus that can prevent fake and malicious apps from getting installed on your phone.
