The Joker Malware Made A Comeback, 7 Apps Have Been Infected

The Joker malware made a comeback, unfortunately, as 7 apps have been infected. This information comes from Tatyana Shishkova, a malware analyst at the security firm Kaspersky.

7 apps have been infected by the Joker malware, as it made a comeback

She tweeted out the links to apps that are infected (via The Express), as those are the apps you should remove from your phone, if you’ve installed them. We’re very familiar with the Joker malware, at this point, as we wrote about it at length.

All of these apps have been removed from the Play Store, but they may yet be installed on your phone. The apps in question are Now QRcode Scan, EmojiOne Keyboard, Battery Discharging Animations Battery Wallpaper, Dazzling Keyboard, Volume Booster Louder Sound Equalizer, Super Hero-Effect, and Classic Emoji Keyboard.

The EmojiOne Keyboard had the most downloads out of the bunch, as it was at over 50,000 installs when it was removed. This malware is not something to play around with, not at all.

The malware remains undetected at first, but it can cause quite a bit of damage. It is technically a “spyware Trojan” malware, and its goal is to authorize operations without your consent. It usually causes quite a bit of financial damage. If you wonder how exactly it works, click here.

Fake LinkedIn notifications are something you should be wary of

In one example, the Joker malware tends to present itself as a LinkedIn notification. This is an example of phishing, and those of you with a keen eye will easily spot a scam. There are a lot of spelling mistakes here, and if you’ve used LinkedIn before, you’ll see right through this. An example of such notification is included below. There are quite a few red flags here.

If you do end up falling for this, and click on the link posted, you’ll be brought to a fake LinkedIn login page. This is just one of the examples of phishing presented this time around.

The point is, be really careful when installing unknown apps, and apps from third-party stores. As you can see, malware can find its way to the Play Store as well, so downloading well-known apps from well-known developers is the way to go. That shouldn’t deter you from trying out new apps, of course, just be careful.