Installed more than 10 million times by Play Store users, the barcode scanner app Barcode Scanner, from Lavabird Ltd., received a malicious code – a malware – in its latest update. The app has been removed from Google's platform, but it may still be installed on countless devices.
The security company Malwarebytes reported having received in your forum several calls from its customers, claiming that their devices were suddenly opening ads in their default browsers. The key tip to discovering the source of the problem came from a user, who pointed to the Barcode Scanner.
The barcode scanning app thus became adware: a type of malware that pushes unwanted ads. It had been installed on most users' devices for a long time and only later became responsible for spreading this malware. After the company notified Google, the Play Store removed the app from its platform.
The app was updated on December 4. Many of the users who reported the issue had had the app for years, without the app ever exhibiting this harmful behavior.
Company points out responsibility of app developers
Malwarebytes reports on its blog that, in some cases, this type of harmful occurrence may occur through the advertising SDK installed in apps by companies other than the developers of the tools. However, in the malicious case of the text reader app, bar code of barcodes, the malware was added by those responsible for Barcode Scanner to act with the update.
Another point that reinforces the malicious intent is that the malicious code used heavy obfuscation to avoid detection. Confirmation that this was something intentional on the part of the developers came when Malwarebytes found the same digital certificate as the previous clean versions.
It is important for users to be aware that although the Google Play Store has removed the Barcode Scanner app from its store, it may still be installed on millions of Android devices. And those that still have the barcode scanner app are also infected with adware. Anyone who has this malicious barcode scanner app should remove it from their devices immediately. This can be done using malware scanning tools or even manually, otherwise it will continue to display ads in a very annoying manner.
Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. SlashGear
Image: sigoisette / iStock
