Android users who have installed a popular application from Google's Play Store onto their phones might be shocked to find out what it's capable of. Security researchers at ESET discovered the software - which has been downloaded some 50,000 times - is able to attack users, track their location, steal text messages and even record private conversations via a bug called AhMyth RAT.
It's clearly a very worrying development which is why Google has rushed so quickly to ban it from the Play Store. The application, called iRecorder – Screen Recorder, has used a clever tactic to infect devices and bypass Google's strict security rules.
When the application was first added to the Play Store back in 2021, it didn't contain any data-stealing malware which is why it was allowed to appear.
Crooks then added the vicious bug to the app at a later date with even those who had already installed it being targeted by an update pushed to out devices. App upgrades are a common feature on phones and it's likely many tapped would have downloaded the patch without realising what it was capable of.
"Android users who had installed an earlier version of iRecorder (prior to version 1.3.8), which lacked any malicious features, would have unknowingly exposed their devices to AhRat, if they subsequently updated the app either manually or automatically, even without granting any further app permission approval," ESET explained.
" The AhRat research serves as a good example of how an initially legitimate application can transform into a malicious one, even after many months, spying on its users and compromising their privacy."
If you think you are one of the unlucky ones who may have installed the software now is a good time to check your device and delete it.
The longer that it stays loaded on the phone, the more chance you have of becoming its next victim.
" As a Google App Defense Alliance partner, ESET identified the most recent version of the application as malicious and promptly shared its findings with Google," the ESET team explained.
"Following our alert, the app was removed from the store"
How to delete apps that you installed
• Open the Google Play Store app .
• At the top right, tap the profile icon.
• Tap Manage apps and devices. Manage.
• Tap the name of the app that you want to delete.
• Tap Uninstall.
