Meta: “Our sense is these types of malicious app developers try to target multiple services”
META — The company recently warned Facebook users that they have been “exposed” to seemingly malicious mobile phone apps designed to steal passwords to the social network.
Meta director of threat disruption David Agranovich said during a briefing that the company has identified over 400 “malicious” mobile phone apps tailored for smartphones powered by Android or Apple software and available at the Google and Apple app stores so far this year.
The company said in a blog post that those mobile phone apps were listed on Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store and disguised as games, photo editors, business apps, VPN services, and other utilities in order to trick users into downloading those apps.
According to Meta’s security team, those apps often asked users to login with their Facebook account information to use promised features, stealing usernames and passwords if entered into those apps.
“They are just trying to trick people into entering in their login information in a way that enables hackers to access their accounts,” Agranovich said of the apps. “We will notify one million users that they may have been exposed to these applications; that is not to say they have been compromised.“
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Based on a report on Agence France-Presse, over 40% of the apps Meta listed involved ways to manipulate or edit images, and some apps were as seemingly simple as using mobile phones as flashlights.
Agranovich said that those types of malicious mobile phone app developers tried to target multiple services. He noted that mobile phone app creators were likely after passwords to more than just social media accounts.
The company said that it shared what it discovered with Google and Apple, which control what is offered at their respective app stores and each vet offerings.
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