This legit Android app turns into malicious mic-snooping code

Image credit : Android app development Even our most security-obsessed readers might be astonished by one particularly egregious feature regarding the most recent malicious Android app uncovered by ESET researchers and removed from the Play Store. You've all heard of rogue Android apps once or... two hundred times before. Google approved and endorsed the "iRecorder - Screen Recorder" app back in September 2021, and it gained its privacy-invading features almost a year later as part of a supposedly innocent upgrade. Regular users and the search engine that is in charge of keeping the Play Store free from malware of all kinds were both oblivious to this behavior because it is extremely uncommon for a bad developer to show such patience and wait so long between publishing an app and injecting it with malware. One of the worst sorts of threats was present in iRecorder - Screen Recorder, allowing the hitherto trustworthy application to spy on its users. We're not just talking about texts or phone calls here; we're also talking about complete microphone recordings and files with "specific" extensions, which raises the possibility that the app was utilized as part of an espionage operation. [caption id="attachment_176110" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Image credit : Threatpost[/caption] Simply put, the software began illegally eavesdropping to people's real-world conversations following an August 2022 update and may possibly continue to do so in the wild. Its original purpose was to allow users to record video displayed on their phones (with authorization). This is due to the fact that, even while the app is no longer available for new downloads from Google Play, no one can be certain that all current users have been informed of its malicious behavior and taken appropriate action. Naturally, that's where we come in, letting you know now what you need to do to avoid yet another serious risk to the security of your phone and your own privacy. Also read : How to Turn Off Wi-Fi Calling on Android to Combat Hackers It would be best to delete the app right once if you are one of the over 50,000 users who have reportedly installed it (and its subsequent update), and you might even want to run a more complete check for related risks using a (trusted) antivirus program.