Is your Android device secretly being used to mine Bitcoin and reducing its battery and lifespan? Even if you’re thinking, that’s not possible since you only use the Google Play Store to download apps, let me assure you its quite possible. It has recently been discovered that Google has removed as many as 5 different apps from their Play Store that posed as innocent wallpaper and music apps, while secretly mining Bitcoin for the owners and reducing the device’s lifespan.
For those of you who are as yet unaware of exactly what Bitcoin is – here is the Cliff’s Notes version. Bitcoin is essentially a form of digital currency. It’s the same as regular currency, but for the Internet, meaning it can be used for online transactions at outlets that accept Bitcoin. Since the software is open source, there are a lot of people ‘mining’ Bitcoin. Mining is the process through which Bitcoin is created and accumulated. While Bitcoin mining can be carried out on regular PCs and Smartphones, it is not feasible to the profit to cost ratio, which is the primary reason for the existence of this malware.
The malware basically uses the processor of the device to secretly and continuously mine for Bitcoin, which affects not only the battery levels of the device but also its lifespan. Additionally, the phone becomes sluggish and is unable to process multiple applications due to processor overload. Turning off the phone’s display does not help either since the malware contains permission to prevent the device from going into sleep mode, which facilitates mining even when the phone is locked and the display switched off.
From the looks of it, the author of the malware is part of a group of miners who pool their resources together to create an effective chain of mining devices. Considering that the most popular of these 5 apps had been downloaded over a million times before being removed, the miners must have made a tidy amount of profit. Luckily for user’s of affected devices, Google has a strict ‘Dangerous products’ clause when it comes to developing Android apps for the Google Play Store. According to this clause, Google does not allow any “content that harms, interferes with the operation of, or accesses in an unauthorized manner, networks, servers, or other infrastructure.” This obviously includes software that performs hidden functions that potentially harm a device.
So, it seems that the fraudulent apps have been stopped and good has triumphed over evil. Or has it? Currently, Smartphones are in a constant state of flux towards achieving more and more powerful capabilities. This makes them a target for unsavory individuals, who can possibly use this power for more nefarious purposes, similar to the Bitcoin mining malware. Given the increasing popularity of mobile devices today, it is expected that more and more Bitcoin miners will try to take advantage of the micro-computer in your pocket.
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Manish Jain is the co-founder and Managing Director at Konstant Infosolutions. He is responsible for the overall operations of the company and has played a major role in bringing Konstant up from its humble beginnings and, with his immense energy and drive, transforming it into a globally trusted name in IT solutions.
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