Google Suspends Some Apps Made In China As Malware

JAKARTA - On Monday, March 20, Google is reported to have announced and marked several applications made by the Chinese e-commerce giant as malware.

Not to forget, Google has also warned users who have installed it, and has suspended the application made in China from the Play Store.

In recent weeks, several Chinese security researchers have accused Pinduoduo, a rising e-commerce giant with nearly 800 million active users, of building an app for Android that contains malware designed to monitor users.

"Off-Play versions of these apps that were found to contain malware have been implemented via Google Play Protect (referring to apps, not on Google Play)," said Ed Fernandez, a Google spokesperson, via Yahoo news portal.

For your information, Google has set up Google Play Protect, its Android security mechanism, to block users from installing harmful apps, and warn those who already have them, asking them to remove the apps.

Fernandez also added that Google has suspended the official Pinduoduo app on the Play Store. Due to security concerns, Fernandez said the company is currently continuing its investigation.

A TechCrunch source, who is a security researcher, has analyzed the app and found that it exploits multiple Zero-days to hack its users.

Google Play itself is not available in China, and according to the anonymous security researcher, the malicious app is present in the dedicated app stores of mobile phone makers Samsung, Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi. So, for cellphone users with the brands mentioned earlier, please be careful.