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CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

kaspersky.com

71–80 of 155 posts

Re: CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's blogspam?

Blogspam happens when someone writes a blog article that sources or references something from a more authoritative source, such as this one linking to the Kaspersky story, without adding anything of significance to the original.

Which I don't think is exactly the case here - the Forbes site is not a blog, it's a news site. This article is their reporting of something newsworthy (even if not the best quality article).

Re: CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

#72

> CamScanner was actually a legitimate app, with no malicious intensions whatsoever, for quite some time. It used ads for monetization and even allowed in-app purchases. However, at some point, that changed, and recent versions of the app shipped with an advertising library containing a malicious module. IMO, this is more a legal matter than a technical one. Google needs to sue this company, not engage in a whack-a-m…

That's a little presumptuous - isn't it likely that CamScanner was somehow compromised? This could happen in the source code or in the build and release pipeline.

Re: CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

#73

PlayProtect is not detecting and warning users about CamScanner even when it has been removed from the Playstore. I've tested it via manual scan on PlayProtect as well, no dice. Isn't that what it is supposed to do? Has anyone ever got any app flagged by PlayProtect? If it's useless, then rather I would disable it than to give it access to all my installed apps. Google Engineers here, please ping your Google Play tea…

> Has anyone ever got any app flagged by PlayProtect?

I know it famously flags the Apptoide app store (a Google Play rival) as malware[1]

[1]: https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/04/aptoide-a-play-store-rival...

Re: CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

#74
post #35

I've been using this app for years and also telling other people to use it, so this sucks. If anyone else is looking for a replacement there's a Microsoft app called "Office Lens" that seems to do a really nice job and is as safe a bet as anything.

It's amazing to me that so few people are not aware of the excellent scanning apps from Google. They work better, you're not expanding your privacy risk ... and they're free and integrated with Google docs etc. * namely, Drive Scan and Photoscan

Never heard of Google Drive Scan, but I can't find it in the Play Store either?

Re: CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

#75
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blogspam happens when someone writes a blog article that sources or references something from a more authoritative source, such as this one linking to the Kaspersky story, without adding anything of significance to the original.

Which I don't think is exactly the case here - the Forbes site is not a blog, it's a news site. This article is their reporting of something newsworthy (even if not the best quality article).

There's no fundamental difference between a news site and a blog. A lot of them even use the same software.

News sites just tend to have lower quality entries than blogs and often engage in blogspam instead of providing links to superior sources or adding something of value.

Obviously. Since they want to keep people on their site.

I wonder what the average time spent on a "news article" vs. a "blog post" is.

Re: CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

#76
post #13

Blogspam of https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/camscanner-malicious-android-... (Forbes contributor posts are almost always blogspam)

Forbes is such a pathetic joke now.

Lately they churn out another "Apple headed for disaster" article every day. Someone there is shorting AAPL and thinking no one will figure it out.

Re: CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

#78
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing to me that so few people are not aware of the excellent scanning apps from Google. They work better, you're not expanding your privacy risk ... and they're free and integrated with Google docs etc. * namely, Drive Scan and Photoscan

Never heard of Google Drive Scan, but I can't find it in the Play Store either?

It's built into the Google Drive app, press + and scan. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/3145835

Re: CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

#79
post #72

> CamScanner was actually a legitimate app, with no malicious intensions whatsoever, for quite some time. It used ads for monetization and even allowed in-app purchases. However, at some point, that changed, and recent versions of the app shipped with an advertising library containing a malicious module. IMO, this is more a legal matter than a technical one. Google needs to sue this company, not engage in a whack-a-m…

That's a little presumptuous - isn't it likely that CamScanner was somehow compromised? This could happen in the source code or in the build and release pipeline.

Then it is a police matter...

Re: CamScanner, a malicious Android app with more than 100M downloads in Google Play

#80
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a little presumptuous - isn't it likely that CamScanner was somehow compromised? This could happen in the source code or in the build and release pipeline.

Then it is a police matter...

Yeah, we can't just remove the app and think that would fix the issue.

Otherwise this is bound to happen again.

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