Genius Brain and AntiVirus – Free Virus Cleaner and Booster are two apps that show misleading ads: here’s how to defend yourself
New danger for Android users: two apps with hundreds of thousands of downloads have been discovered that slow down the use of the smartphone and show malicious ads. They are Genius Brain and AntiVirus – Free Virus Cleaner and Booster, two seemingly harmless apps, but in reality they hide a TrojanAD, a special kind of virus that displays advertisements and makes it difficult to use the phone.
Genius Brain is a very catchy video game, but as soon as it is installed it starts adware in the background and the user has no possibility to block the display of advertisements. The second application, AntiVirus – Free Virus Cleaner and Booster, is even more devious: it promises to protect the smartphone from viruses, but actually hides a TrojanAD. Again, there is nothing the user can do to defend himself, except uninstall the application immediately and reset the smartphone for safety. Both apps have been removed from the Google Play Store, so users won’t have to fear downloading infected apps by mistake.
What the infected apps did
They are not apps that steal users’ personal information, but simply show misleading ads. After installation, the virus activates in the background and starts storming the screen with advertisements: the only way to get rid of them is to click on them.
What are the dangers for users
compared to other types of viruses, adware is harmless for the security of your personal data, but dangerous for the performance of your smartphone. Their goal is to display misleading advertisements to attract users’ clicks and earn money for every visit brought to their sites. Ads are shown with a very high frequency: one every couple of minutes, making it difficult to use the device.
How to defend yourself against smartphone viruses
This is not the first time Google is forced to delete applications from the Play Store because they are infected with trojan viruses or adware. Unfortunately, in some cases Play Protect, the protection system developed by Google, is not so efficient.
To defend yourself against viruses for Android smartphones our advice is to always check other users’ reviews. In many cases there are negative comments explaining the danger of downloading the application. Also, install a security suite: there are many free Android antivirus programs on the Play Store that do their job very well.