Quick Heal Lab: Pre Installed Apps Causing Malware Attacks

Almost all phones come with pre-installed apps. While most of these apps may be useful, some of them take up unnecessary space, and some may be downright malicious. We have been receiving reports about Android devices having pre-installed apps performing malicious operation in the background. This report gives an insight into the same.

Reports from Quick Heal Lab: Quick Heal Labs has reported over 1260 incidents of malware that came with pre-installed apps in mobile devices last year. Amongst these, the highest incidents were of a malware that goes by the name ‘Android.Gopf.A.’ Having the same propagation method is another malware that was detected by Quick Heal; it is called MouaBad or Oldboot.

For normal users, it is difficult to tell a genuine pre-installed app from a malicious one. However, going for a trusted and popular brand, and having a mobile security app installed, should keep you in a safe spot.