A popular Android screen recording app has been caught spying on its users, including recording their conversations and stealing documents from their phones, cybersecurity researchers report.
Researchers at cybersecurity company ESET discovered malware was uploaded to the Android app iRecorder – Screen Recorder, which was downloaded more than 50,000 times.
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The app was originally uploaded to the Google Play Store in 2021 as a harmless screen recording app. However, researchers determined that she likely contracted cancer in August.
According to ESET, Android users who had previously installed the app unknowingly exposed their devices to the malware, which AhRat named after the AhMyth malware it is based on, when updating the app.
“The malicious iRecorder not only provides a legitimate screen recording function, but can also record ambient noise from the device’s microphone and upload it to the attacker’s Command and Control (C&C) server,” warns ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko.
The iRecorder – Screen Recorder app has since been removed from the Google Play Store. Photo credit: ESET
The sneaky malware uses the victim’s microphone to record an audio snippet every 15 minutes and send it back to the server.
It can also steal documents, web pages, images, audio and video files from victim’s phone which are also sent to cyber criminal’s server for storage.
Once downloaded, users are asked to allow iRecorder to access their phone’s photos, media, and files, which researchers say doesn’t seem that suspicious at first since it’s a recording app.
The app has since been removed from the Google Play Store and Android users are urged to check their phones for the malicious app and delete it.
“It’s important to note that the app can also be found on alternative and unofficial Android markets,” Stefanko said.
“The iRecorder developer also makes other applications available on Google Play, but these do not contain any malicious code.”
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