They discover an application that records and filters everything your phone hears

The app first came out in September 2021, but after an update in August 2022, it began recording one minute of audio every 15 minutes and forwarding those recordings, via an encrypted link, to the developer’s server. Everything is documented in a blog post by Essential Security Against Evolving Threats (ESET) researcher Lukas Stefanko.

In the post, Stefanko said the app was updated to include malicious code “based on the open source AhMyth Android RAT (Remote Access Trojan).” The app had 50,000 downloads when it was reported and removed from the Play Store. Stefanko added that apps with AhMyth embedded in them had passed Google filters before.

Apps that invade users’ privacy are not new to the Apple or Google stores. Recording apps can be bad, sometimes they have subscription prices and fake reviews to inflate their visibility on the platforms.

Stefanko’s post highlights a particular problem: Apps become malicious after you’ve had them for a while, using the permissions that were originally granted to collect sensitive information from devices and send it to the developer for their illegal activities.