Unknown Apps must be treated as suspicious and potentially malicious until verified

Most attackers leverage already existing and trusted Apps to compromise our mobile devices. This technique is fairly difficult to detect since the compromised App is a trusted App which was installed by the user personally. There are nevertheless some simple indications that can show that such trusted Apps are compromised. Read my article here on practical and simplified guide on “How to detect malware on your smartphones“.

Another method used by attackers, is to simply installed their version of the malware/virus infected App on the users Android phone. Such Apps try to hide amongst other Apps, but with some vigiliance and caution, they can be fished out.

This article focuses on the second scenario where the compromised Apps were installed by the attacker and not personally installed by the smartphone users. Follow the steps below ideally in SafeMode to identify the unknown, untrusted and potentially malicious App.

1. Navigate to the Settings menu of the Android phone
2. Tap Apps & Notifications in your Settings menu
3. Then select See all applications from the drop-down menu
4. Select Installed applications from the drop-down option on the following screen
5. Examine your installed apps for any unknown and unexpected Apps to be consequently completely uninstalled.

It is advisable to restart your device after this process to re-initiate all running background services.