SAN FRANCISCO – Meta warned Facebook users this Friday about “exposure” to alleged smartphone applications designed to steal passwords on the social network.
Currently, Meta has identified more than 400 “malicious” apps made for smartphones that operate on Apple or Android software and can be downloaded from the Apple and Google app stores, according to director of threat disruption David Agranovich in a briefing.
“These apps were listed on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store and disguised as photo editors, games, VPN services, business apps and other utilities to trick people into downloading them,” sadd sa blog post ng Meta.
The apps require users to login with their Facebook account information to use features, to obtain usernames and passwords, according to Meta’s security team.
“They are just trying to trick people into entering in their login information in a way that enables hackers to access their accounts,” ani Agranovich.
“We will notify one million users that they may have been exposed to these applications; that is not to say they have been compromised.”
More than 40 percent of the apps identified by Meta involve editing images, and the rest are as simple as flashlights.
“Our sense is these types of malicious app developers try to target multiple services,” paglalahad ni Agranovich.
“The targeting here seemed to be relatively indiscriminate — get people to download the applications around the world in an attempt to get access to as many login credentials as possible.”
Meta has already reached out to Apple and Google, which control app shops.
Apple said 45 of the 400 applications listed by Meta were in its operating system, and had been removed from the app store.
“All of the apps identified in the report are no longer available on Google Play,” ayon sa tagapagsalita.
“Users are also protected by Google Play Protect, which blocks these apps on Android.” RNT/SA
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