First issue of Hong Kong Google Play Store's Apps Security Risk Report from HKCERT

HKCERT has released the Hong Kong Google Play Store’s Apps Security Risk Report (July 2013).

In the report of July, 186 apps were downloaded from Play Store, where 3 apps have been identified as high risk. Their malicious behaviors included: connecting to the Internet at the background; obtaining commands from server; disclosing information of IMEI, IMSI, and geo-location; trying to gain root permission illegally; installing another malicious app at the background silently; pushing ads at the notification bar, etc.

To allow the public better understanding the security risk of apps in the Google Play Store for Hong Kong area, HKCERT cooperates with NINIS to analyze the apps on Google Play Store, to identify malicious and suspicious behaviors. We analyze the top 50 free apps in Google Play Store, including the hottest, the newest apps and games.

For more detail, please refer to the Hong Kong Google Play Store’s Apps Security Risk Report (July 2013).

Due to the restriction of the apps downloader API, this report is tentatively released every month. We welcome your comment on this service. (Please email to [email protected])