Sophisticated APT surveillance malware comes to Google Play

Hackers pushing nation-state-style surveillance malware recently scored a major coup by getting three advanced malicious applications hosted in Google's official Play marketplace, researchers said. Google removed the apps after receiving notification of their presence. The mAPTs, short for mobile advanced persistent threats, likely came from two separate groups that both target people in the Middle East, Michael Flossman, head of threat intelligence at mobile security company Lookout, told Ars. The three apps combined received about 650 to 1,250 downloads, according to Google Play figures. All three of them gave attackers considerable control over infected phones.