Quote:Scammers are taking advantage of the Minecraft sandbox video game’s wild success by developing Google Play apps which appear to be Minecraft modpacks, but instead deliver abusive ads, according to researchers.
Since July, Kaspersky researchers have found more than 20 of these apps and determined that they have been downloaded on more than a million Android devices.
Minecraft is a problem-solving game aimed at kids and teens where players create their own worlds. Its original version, called Java Edition, was first released by Mojang Studios in 2009. The skills players build playing Minecraft have been touted by parents and educators as beneficial for kids, which has likely contributed to the game’s success. According to PC Games, more than 200 million copies of Minecraft were sold as of May.
Because Minecraft was designed in Java, it was easy for third-party developers to create compatible applications or “modpacks” to enhance and customize the gaming experience for players. Gamepedia said that today, there are more than 15,000 modpacks for Minecraft available.
Among those 15,000 Minecraft mods lurk at least 20 that Kaspersky researchers were able to identify as malicious. Google Play has removed all but five of the malicious titles, Kaspersky said: Zone Modding Minecraft, Textures for Minecraft ACPE, Seeded for Minecraft ACPE, Mods for Minecraft ACPE and Darcy Minecraft Mod are still up and available.
Google has not responded to Threatpost’s request for comment.
Read more: https://threatpost.com/minecraft-mods-at...es/161567/
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