Fake Flappy Bird Apps Run Malware Instead

It goes without saying that the Flappy Bird craze is not going to die down anytime soon, and we have even heard of reports that a certain Mr. Nelson is renting out his iPhone that has Flappy Bird installed at a rate of $1 per minute, now how about that? Having said that, it must also be noted that a fair number of Flappy Bird clones and similar looking apps have also been “hatched”, where security firms have discovered that these applications actually run malware as they masquerade as a Flappy Bird clone.

Security firm Sophos claims that they have discovered a bunch of new applications that claim to be Flappy Bird in third-party Android app marketplaces. There is one issue with this, however, as some of these are actually fake apps that will carry malware within. Other fake Flappy Bird apps will require users to send a text message to a specific number, which would then open the floodgates for the malware creators to exploit such naive users. We also talked about how Trend Micro did discover a slew of fake Android Flappy Bird apps that will send messages to premium numbers, resulting in additional charges to one’s monthly phone bill. Better err on the side of caution always, which means you should not have missed the Flappy Bird boat when it was available across numerous app stores a few days back.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Cellphones, Gaming
Tags: flappy bird