Meta warned a million Facebook users that they have been “exposed” toseemingly innocuous smartphone applications designed to steal passwords tothe social network.
So far this year, Meta has identified more than 400 “malicious” appstailored for smartphones powered by Apple or Android software and availableat the Apple and Google app stores, director of threat disruption DavidAgranovich said during a briefing.
“These apps were listed on the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store anddisguised as photo editors, games, VPN services, business apps and otherutilities to trick people into downloading them,” Meta said in a blog poston Friday.
The apps often ask people to login with their Facebook account informationto use promised features, stealing usernames and passwords if entered,according to Meta’s security team.
“They are just trying to trick people into entering in their logininformation in a way that enables hackers to access their accounts,”Agranovich said of the apps.
“We will notify one million users that they may have been exposed to theseapplications; that is not to say they have been compromised.”
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More than 40 percent of the apps Meta listed involved ways to edit ormanipulate images, and some were as seemingly simple as using smartphonesas flashlights.
“Our sense is these types of malicious app developers try to targetmultiple services,” Agranovich said, noting the app creators are likelyafter passwords to more than just Facebook accounts.
“The targeting here seemed to be relatively indiscriminate — get people todownload the applications around the world in an attempt to get access toas many login credentials as possible.”
