Google Chrome - NEVER download this app, it can HACK your phone
GOOGLE CHROME users need to be on the look-out for a dangerously compromised version of the hugely-popular browser app, according to a prominent security researcher.
Google Chrome is comfortably the most popular internet browser in the world, with a 57 per cent market share.
Unfortunately, that makes it a substantial target for hackers and cyber criminals.
Just a few weeks after it was revealed Google Chrome contained a dangerous vulnerability that made phishing attacks "almost impossible to detect", a new threat has been detected.
SophosLabs Android researcher Rowland Yu has published a blog post about a malicious version of Google Chrome for Android spotted online.
The compromised version of the hugely-successful browser contains a piece of malware – dubbed Andr/SandRat-C – that can evade the digital signatures at the heart of modern security procedures.
The fraudulent Chrome can bypass these safeguards built into your device and record audio or video from your smartphone, read the contents of your SMS messages, send SMS, and record the location of the device.
According to Yu, the same icon and functions are presented as they would appear in a legitimate Chrome browser.
That could make the malicious version of the app difficult to detect.
Fortunately, the Google Play Store does not allow the fake Google Chrome, so those who download and update the browser within the official Android store need not worry.
"When the first hacked version of Chrome was discovered in 2015, a few people were still downloading apps outside Google Play," the SophosLabs Android researcher wrote.
That should be as much of an issue these days, thanks to the ubiquity of the Google Play Store.
But while the hacked version of Chrome is not available to download in Google Play, another piece of malware with the same functionality – Andr/Rootnik-AH – is there.
Writing for the successful anti-virus firm, SophosLabs' Rowland Yu wrote: "The main point is that Google Play allows a compromised certificate [through the associated malware], though they know the certificate has been used to sign rootkit malware."
He added: "Though the hacked Chrome browser was found outside of Google Play, the SophosLabs database shows more than 700 apps signed with the same questionable certificate in Google Play.
"Of them, Google Play has removed 292. That leaves more than 400 shady apps in Google Play, including this and this."
Express.co.uk has approached Google for comment on this story.