In the aftermath of a mega
security breach of Hacking Team, an Italian
company consisting of a group of professional hackers, startling
revelations continue to pour in. The latest to hit the shore is a
loophole in Google Play's security checks that allowed a malicious app
developed by the Hacking Team to find its way to the store. The finding
once again raises the question whether Android's marquee app store is a
safe marketplace for consumers.
Security firm Trend Micro has
discovered an app developed by the Hacking Team that managed to
circumvent Google's security checks and find its way into Google Play.
The Trojan horse - which went by the name BeNews and has been pulled
down since - disguised itself as a news app, and downloaded tools that
triggered remote access in the background. Google pulled the app from
the store before it could gain much traction, however, security experts
believe that the underlying technique may have been used in other apps
as well, and it is likely to be copied by other groups.
Trend
Micro notes
that the Hacking Team dump also contained source code in which the
group is found sharing how-to-guide to help its clients get started with
the same exploit. "Based on these, we believe that the Hacking Team
provided the app to customers to be used as a lure to download
RCSAndroid malware on a target's Android device," it notes in a blog
post.
The security firm believes that the app was using dynamic
loading technology that enabled it to bypass Google's monitoring tool.
At the time of installation, for instance, the app only asked the users
for access to three components of their Android device - something which
Google may have deemed as safe. Furthermore, the app wouldn't load the
malware script until Google's verification was over.
This isn't
the first time Google has failed to prevent malicious apps from entering
into the Play Store. Just this year, we have seen a number of cases
where the Mountain View-based company fell short from preventing similar
mishaps. Earlier this year, security firm Avast reported
several malicious apps in the store that affected millions of Android
users. Another security firm Symantec went a step ahead and claimed
(PDF) that one in five Android apps the Google Play Store is a malware.
Google
on its part has taken a number of steps to crack down on shady apps.
Earlier this year, the company quietly introduced a new security measure
to get rid off applications that wouldn't comply with its terms of
service. But the startling number of reports suggest that Google's
efforts on this front aren't enough.
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