Google Removes Apps with Hidden Data Harvesting Software

Google removed dozens of apps from the Google Play store after noticing that they contained software that secretly collects data.

The code ran on millions of Android devices and was found in several applications that have been downloaded more than 10 million times, according to researchers who discovered the behaviour of the code in the cause of auditing work they do searching for vulnerabilities in Android apps.  

Researchers shared their findings with Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc and federal privacy regulators. According to Scott Westover, the apps containing Measurement Systems were removed from the Google Play Store as of March 25. He also said that the apps can be restored if the software was removed from these applications as some of the applications are already back in the app store.

Two men who co-founded a company called AppCensus, which studies mobile app security and privacy, consider the software to be the most privacy-violating SDK in the six years of researching mobile apps. It can “without a doubt be described as malware,” Mr Egelman said.