Your phone may have been hijacked if you downloaded one of these apps

Malware found in several Android applications can cause a lot of trouble at worst. Adobe Stock

Between April 2021 and September 2023, there have been six Android apps in Google’s Play Store that harbored the malicious Vajraspy Trojan.

Google has removed the apps from its own store, but the same flaw has been found in six such apps that are still downloadable from other app stores.

Vajraspy is able to rake and steal the user’s private information very extensively, if it is given sufficiently broad access rights.

It can break into, for example, Whatsapp and Signal, eavesdrop and even record calls, activate the camera and take pictures, capture application notifications in real time, and scan the user’s photo library and other files on the device.

Don’t trust strangers

The findings were made by ESET, a Slovakian security company specializing in anti-malware.

According to the company’s analysis, some of the apps have been particularly popular in romance scams in Pakistan and India, where the victim has been lured into downloading a particular messaging app.

ESET warns against trusting unknown parties who urge you to download suspicious applications, as this is a very traditional tactic used by cybercriminals to break device protections.

Below is a list of apps that contain Vajraspy. The first six were available for download from the Play Store between 2021 and 2023, but the last six are still available for download from other Android app stores.

Source: Bleeping Computer