A vicious malware has reportedly been discovered within the Google Play Store and has already been downloaded thousands upon thousands of times by app fans.
Mobile security company Lookout has revealed on its blog that the virus called ‘BadNews’ has been spread to up to 9,000,000 Google-based smartphone and tablet users from over thirty apps from multiple developer accounts across the former Android Market.
The offending apps are said to be sending chargeable Russian language spam SMS messages as well as revealing personal details such as the user‘s phone number. They’ve been reported by Lookout directly to Google and the software and developers are currently suspended from the Play Store pending further investigation.
The malware has been found to be affecting mostly Russia, the Ukraine and Germany but Lookout advises all users of Google’s mobile OS Android to check their settings and be sure that ‘Unknown Sources’ remains un-ticked to avoid anything nasty and unexpected getting on to their gadget.