Beware: 470 apps full of malware will steal your money

February 1, 2022 Luisa Rey

Security researchers are sounding the alarm about so-called Dark Herring malware found in hundreds of apps. It is best to remove these apps from your smartphone as soon as possible, which were simply downloadable from the Play Store.

Apps with Dark Herring malware

A new investigation shows that 470 vulnerable applications were found that had the Dark Herring malware at their disposal. This malware aims to secretly help users get a subscription, without users realizing it. The (financial) damage was only visible later, because it could be seen on the telephone bill. It is not known how much money has been taken from users, but the researchers at Zimperium zLabs report that there are already at least 105 million victims from all over the world. It was not always clear that a subscription was secretly being taken out. Because users only saw it on their phone bill, the malware could continue to cash out unnoticed.

The 470 applications that contained the malware have since been removed from the Play Store by Google. That does not mean that the danger has completely passed. It is highly recommended that if you have any of these apps installed, you remove it from your phone immediately. We’ve made a small selection of the most popular apps; the full list can be viewed here.