Specialists found an app in the Google Play Store whose developers promised to clean and cool a smartphone, but instead transmitted user data to third parties. After identifying the malicious app, which had not yet become popular, other programs were discovered that used the same algorithms and had hundreds of thousands of downloads.

The attackers were reported by cybersecurity company Doctor Web. Experts advised Android smartphone users to check their gadgets and in case of detection of these programs to remove them.

The first malicious program turned out to be Fast Cleaner & Cooling Master. The app description on the Play Store states that it is designed to optimize the OS and improve Android performance on a smartphone.

However, Doctor Web discovered that the program secretly communicated with developers via Firebase Cloud Messaging or AppMetrica Push SDK, showed ads on victims' smartphones, or used those devices as proxy servers, allowing third parties to route their traffic through the victim's gadget.

Fortunately, the app was only downloaded a few hundred times from the Play Store, so its global impact on users is not significant. However, cybersecurity experts also found three other apps that used the same algorithm, but instead of advertising, they "accidentally" downloaded sites to their victims' devices.

We are talking about the following apps:

• Volume, Music Equalizer, which has 50,000 downloads;
• Bluetooth & Wi-Fi & USB driver - 100,000 downloads;
• Bluetooth device auto connect - downloaded a million times.

Previously OBOZREVATEL told about how to find out for yourself whether an application in the Play Store is safe or not.