Sunday , June 1 2025

38 apps spread malware on Smartphone: McAfee

You know how we told you around two weeks ago about more than 60 Android apps with a collective total of over 100 million Google Play downloads that were found to push invasive ads without the user’s permission and gather a host of sensitive information… also without notifying you or asking for approval?

What is this issue all about?

Although it’s part of the same large and malicious adware family as the previously identified “Goldoson” virus, this “HiddenAds” campaign might seem a little less harmful at first glance, doing, well, exactly what the name suggests.
Specifically, around 35 million (!!!) Android users worldwide have apparently been served ads in the background of their mobile gaming sessions recently with the main purpose of generating unlawful revenue for various shady companies and individuals.
That sounds like something that won’t greatly impact your user experience or data privacy, but anyone who’s ever accidentally installed this type of malware before knows precisely how annoying it can be to notice your phone slow down, freeze, or crash out of nowhere without being able to identify the culprit.

If you’ve experienced something like that of late, it’s possible that your mobile device is infected with “HiddenAds”… or a similar malware, especially if you happen to occasionally share said device with a child between the ages of 5 and, say, 15.

Hacker claim Leak of Deloitte Source Code & GitHub Credentials

A hacker known as "303" claim to breach the company's systems and leaked sensitive internal data on a dark web...
Read More
Hacker claim Leak of Deloitte Source Code & GitHub Credentials

CISA Issued Guidance for SIEM and SOAR Implementation

CISA and ACSC issued new guidance this week on how to procure, implement, and maintain SIEM and SOAR platforms. SIEM...
Read More
CISA Issued Guidance for SIEM and SOAR Implementation

Linux flaws enable password hash theft via core dumps in Ubuntu, RHEL, Fedora

The Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU) found two local information-disclosure vulnerabilities in Apport and systemd-coredump. Both issues are race-condition vulnerabilities....
Read More
Linux flaws enable password hash theft via core dumps in Ubuntu, RHEL, Fedora

Australia enacts mandatory ransomware payment reporting

New ransomware payment reporting rules take effect in Australia yesterday (May 30) for all organisations with an annual turnover of...
Read More
Australia enacts mandatory ransomware payment reporting

Why Govt Demands Foreign CCTV Firms to Submit Source Code?

Global makers of surveillance gear have clashed with Indian regulators in recent weeks over contentious new security rules that require...
Read More
Why Govt Demands Foreign CCTV Firms to Submit Source Code?

CVE-2023-39780
Botnet hacks thousands of ASUS routers

GreyNoise has discovered a campaign where attackers have gained unauthorized access to thousands of internet-exposed ASUS routers. This seems to...
Read More
CVE-2023-39780  Botnet hacks thousands of ASUS routers

Bangladesh Bank instructed using AI to prevent online gambling

The rise of online gambling in the country is leading to increased crime and societal issues. In response, the central...
Read More
Bangladesh Bank instructed using AI to prevent online gambling

251 Amazon-Hosted IPs Used in Exploit Scan for ColdFusion, Struts, and Elasticsearch

Cybersecurity researchers recently revealed a coordinated cloud-based scanning attack that targeted 75 different exposure points earlier this month. On May...
Read More
251 Amazon-Hosted IPs Used in Exploit Scan for ColdFusion, Struts, and Elasticsearch

Zero-Trust Policy bypass to Exploit Vulns & Manipulate NHI Secrets

Recent security research has shown that attackers can weaken zero-trust security frameworks by exploiting a key DNS vulnerability, disrupting automated...
Read More
Zero-Trust Policy bypass to Exploit Vulns & Manipulate NHI Secrets

Evaly E-commerce Platform Allegedly Hacked

Evaly, a Bangladeshi e-commerce platform, is reportedly facing a major data breach that may have exposed sensitive information of around...
Read More
Evaly E-commerce Platform Allegedly Hacked
That’s because every single malicious app found to be part of this specific adware group emulates or, let’s be honest, downright rips off Mojang’s hugely popular Minecraft game. We’re talking incredibly similar titles mixing up the words “block”, “diamond”, “craft”, “sword”, “monster”, “forrest”, “builder”, and “rainbow” in slightly different ways to draw the attention of the most vulnerable mobile users of all.

These are all the apps you need to delete ASAP

  • Block Box Master Diamond
  • Craft Sword Mini Fun
  • Block Box Skyland Sword
  • Craft Monster Crazy Sword
  • Block Pro Forrest Diamond
  • Block Game Skyland Forrest
  • Block Rainbow Sword Dragon
  • Craft Rainbow Mini Builder
  • Block Forrest Tree Crazy
  • Craft Clever Monster Castle
  • Block Monster Diamond Dragon
  • Craft World Fun Robo
  • Block Pixelart Tree Pro
  • Craft Mini Lucky Fun
  • Block Earth Skyland World
  • Block Rainbow Monster Castle
  • Block Fun Rainbow Builder
  • Craft Dragon Diamond Robo
  • Block World Tree Monster
  • Block Diamond Boy Pro
  • Block Lucky Master Earth
  • Craft Forrest Mini Fun
  • Craft Sword City Pro
  • Block Loki Monster Builder
  • Block Boy Earth Mini
  • Block Crazy Builder City
  • Craft Sword Vip Pixelart
  • Block City Fun Diamond
  • Craft City Loki Rainbow
  • Craft Boy Clever Sun
  • Block City Dragon Sun
  • Craft Loki Forrest Monster
  • Lokicraft: Forrest Survival 3D
  • Craft Castle Sun Rain
  • Craft Game Earth World
  • Craft Lucky Castle Builder
  • Craftsman: Building City 2022
  • Craft Rainbow Pro Rain
If you’re thinking of discarding this threat as minor and unimportant… don’t. That’s because the malicious Android games listed above are ordered by popularity, starting with a title that was downloaded more than 10 million titles and three more with 5 million+ Google Play installs under their belt (each).
So, yeah, if you’re not extremely careful about every single thing you or your kid downloads from the official Play Store every single day, odds are your phone might need a little spring cleaning. And quickly! That’s especially true if you live in the US, Canada, South Korea, or Brazil, which were apparently the main countries targeted by this malware-spreading campaign.
For its part, Google seems to have fulfilled its secondary task of cleaning up the Play Store of these apps after failing the primary goal of keeping such threats away to begin with. But that doesn’t mean anything if you don’t also locate these apps and delete them from your devices before they can spread their tentacles and start performing other shady background activities besides pushing ads for dirty money.

Check Also

mobile

Bank server compromised using customer’s mobile, steal ₹11 crore

Cyber fraudsters hacked the Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Bank’s server using a customer’s mobile phone. …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *