However, the Samsung Galaxy Store review only vets the submitted apps for malware functionality or malicious behavior, so copyright infringement isn't a consideration. That said, from a legal perspective, Samsung should have rejected these apps for what they claim to be, even if they weren't posing any other risk. I've found at least 5 of these apps in a row on the Galaxy Store. Google's anti-virus protection software, built into Play Services, stops the install.

Samsung is hosting literal malware on the Galaxy Store. I gave Huawei shit for this, gonna do it to Samsung too.

These clone apps were advertised as streaming apps, promising anonymous access to protected content via an integrated VPN tool.Īccording to Android Police, at least some of these apps did actually offer the promised pirate functionality at some point. Virus Total scan results against a ShowBox clone Multiple anti-virus engines on VirusTotal detect samples of these apps as riskware, trojan, ad clicker, or generic malware. If the user grants those requests, the apps are allowed to access contact lists, call logs, execute code, fetch malware payloads click on ads, and more.Īfter analyzing the apps, Linuxct found ad technology that could be exploited to perform remote code execution, allowing it to be abused to execute commands on the device. Infringing and riskyĪccording to mobile security analyst ' linuxct', these apps trigger a Google Play Protect warning because the apps request access to risky permissions that could allow the installation of malware on the Android device.

Scammers bet on the popularity of the pirate app, and indeed their cloned apps enjoyed a welcoming reception by the Samsung user community. ShowBox and its 'sibling' MovieBox enabled users to access copyright-protected movies and TV shows without paying for a membership subscription to the legitimate broadcasters. Samsung's official Android app store, called the Galaxy Store, has had an infiltration of riskware apps that triggered multiple Play Protect warnings on people's devices.Īs reported first by Android Police, the malicious apps mimic ShowBox, a pirate app that went bust in 2018, after a coalition of movie studios managed to identify its operator and filed lawsuits against him.

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