Facebook discovers 400 scam apps, at risk of data of 1 million users

The data of one million users from Facebook may have been compromised by 400 downloadable apps on the Google Play Store (355) and the Apple App Store (47). These are malware, spyware category, software designed to steal information from the user. “Scam” app Meta, the social network’s parent company, defined them in a report drawn up by Facebook security researchers and which was published yesterday

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These are apps designed, it is explained in the Meta report, for hijack credentials users’ Facebook accounts, disguised as “fun or useful” services, such as fake photo editors (around 40%), camera apps, VPN services, virtual private networks that claimed to increase browsing speed and gain access to blocked websites, horoscope app, fitness tracking tools. Some apps even promised to turn the user’s face into a cartoon

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The discovery prompted the Palo Alto company to send alerts to 1 million people who may have used the apps, informing users that their account information may have been compromised, advising them to reset passwords. A story that brings attention to the measures developed by the large companies a privacy protection

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The scam apps we talk about have passed the security measures from Apple and Google. In the background the shadow of the story Cambridge Analytica, a company that has improperly accessed the personal data of millions of Facebook users. Case for which Facebook had to shell out 5 billion dollars and which changed the world forever Zuckerberg company

The director of Threat Disruption of Meta took stock of the case, David Agranovich. The manager said Meta shared its findings with both Apple and Google – both companies confirmed that the app identified by Meta were removed from their respective app stores. “All the apps identified in the report are no longer available on Google Play,” a Google spokesperson said

“Users are also protected by Google Play Protect, which blocks these apps on Android.” Meta has found malicious apps in both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. While malicious Android apps were mostly consumer applike photo filters, the 47 iOS apps were almost exclusively what Meta calls “business utility” app

These services, with names like “Very Business Manager”, “Meta Business”“FB Analytic” and “Ads Business Knowledge”, appeared to be targeted specifically at people using Facebook’s business tools

“THE cyber criminals they know how popular these types of apps are and use them for deceive people and steal their accounts and information, “Agranovich said.” If an app promises something too good to be true, such as unreleased functionality for another social media platform or site, it is likely to have ulterior motives. ”

The mechanism of the scam is simple. Apps often require users to “Log in with Facebook” before you can access the promised features. But these login features are simply a means of stealing Facebook user account information

Meta’s Threat Disruption director David Agranovich noted that many of the apps identified by Meta were barely functioning. “Many of the apps provided little or no functionality before logging in and most of them did not provide any functionality even after a person agreed to log in,” Agranovich said.

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