"Apps for Sale: Cybercriminals Sell Android Hacks for Up to $20K a Pop"

Cybercriminals bypass the official Google Play app store's security, develop tools for trojanizing existing Android applications, and sell their malicious wares for up to $20,000 a piece on cybercrime markets. The results of a comprehensive study of nine of the most prominent dark web forums were published by researchers. Observing activity between 2019 and 2023, they discovered a thriving marketplace where buyers and sellers traded access to app developer accounts, botnets, and malicious Android apps for thousands of dollars. Source code that can burrow you into an existing cryptocurrency or a dating app on Google Play can go for multiple thousands of dollars in certain cases. Organizations with inadequate enterprise security should be especially concerned about the Google Play threats. Many businesses continue to use lax bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, which extend the security perimeter beyond corporate networks and into the hands of employees. This article continues to discuss the marketplace for malicious Google Play apps and app-takeover tools.

Dark Reading reports "Apps for Sale: Cybercriminals Sell Android Hacks for Up to $20K a Pop"