Google Purges Malicious Beauty Apps from Play Store

Google has taken action against dozens of malicious Android apps that were secretly stealing users' photos and displaying fraudulent advertisements. Security firm Trend Micro discovered 29 fake 'beauty camera' apps on the Google Play store, which have since been removed by Google.

The apps, masquerading as photo editing tools, carried out a range of nefarious activities when installed on Android devices. Some displayed full-screen ads for adult content or phishing websites that attempted to steal users' personal information. Others promised to 'beautify' photos but instead uploaded them to private servers and displayed fake messages.

Trend Micro found that the apps used compression archives, making it difficult for analysts to analyze their code. The developers also hid the apps from a user's application list, making it hard to uninstall them. The 29 malicious apps were downloaded over 4 million times, with three of them accounting for more than 3 million downloads.