A new batch of malware- and adware-laden apps found on the Google Play Store have been downloaded more than ten million times.
It’s honestly impossible to escape any kind of encounter with malware these days, given how widespread they are on the Internet. Of course, encounters don’t necessarily mean infection, especially if you’re careful enough as an individual to impulsively download something without checking the comment sections and bot reviews for more information. However, I will point my finger at users who get caught up in malware attacks. These attacks, under the guise of legitimate-looking online IDs, have become increasingly sophisticated.
At this point, the lion’s share of the blame must lie with Google and its Google Play app store. The Play Store continually makes a big show of how it’s making a slew of policy changes to help increase the quality of apps across the platform, while also decreasing the appearance of malware. However, if this recent data collected by the Dr. Web The antivirus team is to be believed, not only is Play Store unsuccessful in its attempts, it may even be causing more harm than good.
For any app to be popular enough to generate millions of downloads, it must have some degree of search engine optimization. To be clear, this means that Google Play’s SEO is so easily manipulated that it has resulted in not one, but several apps containing malware to infect the corners of the store. This is blatantly Google’s fault, as the company doesn’t care whether or not users are affected by the ineptitude of its own algorithm, as long as the apps continue to get clicks and generate ad revenue. This is what Google finds important; Well, that and of course changing store policies to continually exploit the income and revenue streams of the increasingly cash-strapped indie developers.
This last point is perhaps why these malware applications are so frustrating. Google has time and again expended its energy to generate profits for itself, a multi-billion dollar mega-corporation, even trampling the less privileged in the process. If you have the energy to screw these people over for money, looking like particularly hungry moneylenders who smell blood, then you have the energy to edit your own search algorithm’s SEO policies or have better search engine detection policies. app store not only in place, but making an impact as well.
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