Joker virus has been found to have affected 8 apps on the Google Play Store. The virus has been around for a while, and it masquerades in a fully functional app by compromising its code. The Belgian Police issued a new warning about the Joker virus last week, with very clear calls to watch out for credit card frauds through the Joker virus apps.
Updated 21.09.21
New attempts to install malware through the Joker virus are being noticed. Malicious payloads that are part of the Joker virus are being actively spread through the following 3 recently registered domains as of 21st September 2021 –
- implemente.life
- grouplearn.shop
- puerassist.club
- fenglintechnology-app01.oss-me-east-1.aliyuncs.com
Malicious payload files are being downloaded on to the affected systems through these hosts. Please block them at the earliest to protect against malware on your systems or networks or mobile phones.
What does Joker virus do?
Joker virus attaches itself to an app. These apps are being used by millions of users across the world for their practical and functional utilities. When you use the app, it loads malicious payloads in multiple stages. For full details, you may read the Quick Heal study on Joker virus. This study was conducted in January 2021, and guides step by step payloads and the impact on your Android phones. While the host apps that get affected with the Joker virus may be different, the approach remains the same. The virus still steals your financial information and data through the phone SMS, contact lists and other information from the Android phones.
The virus runs in the background, and downloads malicious code on to the phone. From there on, without user’s knowledge, it will read your SMS, and it may enroll you into premium subscriptions on sites across the Internet. Your credit card and financial details are likely to be stolen. Unauthorized credit card transactions on your financial accounts will be the next logical step. The Joker virus will eventually cause financial data theft and monetary loss.
What are the eight apps that have been affected by Joker virus in the latest August 2021 reports?
The eight apps that have been affected with the Joker virus or malware are:
| Auxiliary Message | Go Messages |
| Element Scanner | Super Message |
| Fast Magic SMS | Great SMS |
| Free CamScanner | Travel Wallpapers |
The latest impacted apps are short messaging and wallpaper apps. The virus will steal your information through the SMS sent to your phone.
What is the Remedy against Joker virus?
Google has already blocked the eight reported apps on the Play Store. This, however, does not give protection to mobile users who have downloaded these malicious code ridden apps on their mobile devices. If you have accessed or downloaded any one of these eight apps, you will need to sanitize your phone.
There are two things that you must do to rid your phone of the Joker virus.
If you have any of the eight apps listed above, please remove from from your Android device. It would be pertinent to try and scan your system for a potential risk. It will also be a wise idea to restore SMS apps to the default app on the phone, and delete the SMS received on your phone during the time your phone was exposed to any of the eight affected apps.
And, do make sure that you have a good anti-virus or malware cleaner on your Android phone. Without good first level protection, your phone will always be exposed to risks coming in through the compromised and insecure Google Play Store apps.
With these basic protection steps, you can ensure protection against the Joker virus.
Rajesh Dhawan is a technology professional who loves to blog about smart wearables, Cloud computing and Microsoft technologies. He loves to break complex problems into manageable chunks of meaningful information.