Suspected “eavesdropping” apps found operating “disguised” as photo editors, mobile games or health monitoring apps, Facebook said
Meta Platforms has announced that it will notify approximately 1 million Facebook users that their credentials may have been compromised due to security issues with apps downloaded from Apple and Alphabet software stores.
The company announced today, Friday, that it has identified more than 400 malicious Android and iOS apps that target Internet users in order to steal their login information. Meta said it has informed both Apple and Google about the issue in order to make it easier to remove the apps.
The apps operated “disguised” as photo editors, mobile games or health-tracking apps, Facebook said.
Apple, for its part, said that 45 of the 400 problematic apps were in its App Store and have been removed. At the same time, a Google representative said that the company also removed all the malicious applications in question.
“Cybercriminals know how popular these types of apps are and will use similar themes to trick people into stealing their accounts and information,” said David Agranovich, director of global threat disruption at Meta. “If an app promises something that seems too good to be true, such as features for another platform or social networking site that haven’t been released yet, chances are they have ulterior motives,” he added.
A common case of fraud will unfold, for example, when a user downloads one of the malicious apps. The app would require a Facebook login to work beyond basic functionality, thus tricking the user into giving their username and password. Users could then, for example, upload an edited photo to their Facebook account. But in the process, they unknowingly compromised their account by giving access to the one controlling the app.
Meta indicated that it will share tips with potential victims on how they can avoid being “re-compromised” by learning how to better identify problematic apps that steal credentials, whether for Facebook or other accounts.
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