UPDATED 00:43 EDT / MAY 25 2017

APPS

Bogus Android apps in Google Play store promise WannaCry protection

Scammers are using the unprecedented global coverage of the spread of the WannaCry ransomware to dupe Android users into downloading bogus apps that pretend to provide protection against it, despite the fact that WannaCry only works on Windows computers.

The apps, which according to the newly independent security firm McAfee Inc. are mostly harmless at the moment, come in a variety of flavors. Some simply offer a guide which includes advice such as reminding users to update their Windows installs, while others actually pretend to protect Android users from being infected. A quick search by SiliconANGLE discovered that around a dozen apps claim to protect Android users from WannaCry infections.

While mostly harmless, one app called WannaCry Ransomware Protection claims to be an antivirus program that includes a “patch for Android smartphone from WannaCry ransomware” but instead displays ads that attempt to get users to download and install other apps they didn’t ask for. “All the features offered by WannaCry Ransomware Protection are fake; the only function in this app is a repacked scanner that can detect the presence of a few ad libraries” McAfee researcher Fernando Ruiz wrote. Another app, called Anti WannaCry Virus, was found to have multiple positive reviews, suggesting that although the app itself did absolutely nothing, scammers were backing up their efforts with a fake-review campaign.

“We did not find any malware in these apps offering fake protection against WannaCry, but cybercriminals often seize the opportunity of trending topics like this—as we have seen with Flash Player for Android, Pokémon Go, Mario Run, Minecraft, etc.—to distribute malicious payloads even on official apps markets,” Ruiz added.

Suffice it to say, if you are an Android user, you should not be concerned about being infected by WannaCry but you should be running antivirus software given that there are countless other forms of malware and ransomware that do target Android devices.

Image: screenshot/Google Play

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