Google has moved to remove six Android applications that exhibited malicious behavior, according to Russian security vendor Dr.Web, who says they were infected with the Android.Valeriy trojan.
The apps were Battery Booster, Power Booster, Blue Color Puzzle, Blue And White, Battery Checker, and Hard Jump - Reborn 3D. The developers of these apps are ZvonkoMedia LLC, Danil Prokhorov, and horshaom.
Android.Valeriy made over 55,000 victims
Before being taken offline, Dr.Web says the apps were downloaded in total by over 15,500 Android users. The security firm claims it managed to break into the trojan's C&C server and discovered that, in reality, more than 55,000 users were infected with the Android.Valeriy malware.
The trojan comes to life after users install the aforementioned apps. Android.Valeriy connects to a C&C server from where it gets a list of URLs and then opens these links in the WebView (browser) component.
This is specific adware behavior and is enough to get the apps banned from the Play Store. Unfortunately for infected users, the trojan doesn't stop here, though.
