APKPure App Contained Malicious Adware, Say Researchers (techcrunch.com) 31
Security researchers say APKPure, a widely popular app for installing older or discontinued Android apps from outside of Google's app store, contained malicious adware that flooded the victim's device with unwanted ads. From a report: Kaspersky Lab said that it alerted APKPure on Thursday that its most recent app version, 3.17.18, contained malicious code that siphoned off data from a victim's device without their knowledge, and pushed ads to the device's lock screen and in the background to generate fraudulent revenue for the adware operators. But the researchers said that the malicious code had the capacity to download other malware, potentially putting affected victims at further risk.
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And thus the solution is simple: ban money.
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Is APKPure from the APK that plagued slashdot with his hosts file product for what seems like forever?
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App Stores (Score:2, Insightful)
For people who say Apple phones are bad because they only allow you to publish through the app store (getting a cut), while Google phones are good because apart from the play store (which takes a cut), you can install other stores that don't take a cut, please note that these "other stores" are like APKPure - providing only free apps (legal or pirated depending on the store), possibly with malware. As a mobile software publisher I have no choice other than the Apple store or the Google store - and actually
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Of course it does, because Android users are too cheap to pay for anything.
Re: App Stores (Score:3)
Apple mostly check for violations that hurt their business... not malware.
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We should have the option to do as we please.
As consumers it's up to us to make sure we aren't getting into shady territory.
I have gotten a HUGE Android game library using The Humble Bundle. Not an option on Apple. I use F-Droid to get things that Google censors, and in a couple of cases I get APKs straight from websites to get around the censorship issue.
I'm glad there's an Amazon app store option, though in practice years ago I found it was more of the pain to use on normal Android so I relegated it to
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I'm the guy with money that I'm not giving to Apple because they won't let me that's who.
I've also gotten people to jump ship on Apple by influencing their purchasing decisions.
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If computers were recreated from scratch today it'd be impossible to execute code without a corporation's permission, and, worse still, people who once called themselves nerds and hackers would celebrate the decision for "our own safety and security."
The ability of PCs to serve as general computing devices still exists only because they've been grandfathered in. When the one or two generations of people used to this die out, I suspect we'll lose this final bastion of digital freedom, fundamental though it w
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And what you say is the cause for the ongoing attack on rms.
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Re: App Stores (Score:2)
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Really stupid to use that instead of Play store (Score:1)
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Sure. But the play store doesn't allow you to install old versions. And at least 50% of the time, the new version is worse than the old version, or just doesn't work right on your device, or in some cases the new version itself has malware, or spyware, or more advertising.
Main use... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: Main use... (Score:2)
This is what Apple is afraid of (Score:2, Insightful)
Not so much of the malware—that could happen on their watch too. What Apple hates is taking the blame for something that isn't actually their fault. (They hate taking the blame for things that ARE their fault too, don't get me wrong, but at least they can take that on the chin and just never speak of it again. See: butterfly keyboard.) Users installing this stuff should know the risks, but if a friend or family member tells them to do it and this happens, Apple is the one who has these people come int
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Can't argue. Right-to-repair solves a lot of problems for them, honestly. They can just punt things that aren't their fault or have nothing to do with them.