Security researches from Symantec recently discovered a particular app that goes by the name of HTML Source Code Viewer, to have been illegally scanning and stealing personal photos and videos from the users’ devices. This app has been removed from the Play Store and we urge the users to uninstall it immediately.
The app, HTML Source Code viewer, as the name suggests allows users to view the source code of a web page. Users are required to enter the URL and the app will automatically retrieve the site’s source code and print it on the screen. It was developed by Sunuba Gaming and has over 5,000 installs.
According to Symantec, HTML Source Code Viewer contained code that scanned the local ‘DCIM/Camera’ and ‘DCIM/100LGDSC’ folders, which are the standard location on Android devices to store images and videos. The app would then take the data that it discovered and update an online server located in Azerbaijan at proqnoz.in.
Personal data that was illegally scanned by HTML Source Code Viewer.
Good news is that Symantec has managed to access the server folder where all the data was stored and have discovered videos and images dating as long back as March 2015. However, the fact that this personal media information could be used for any form of malice purposes including blackmailing, ransomware attacks; pornography among others is just shuddering enough for people to re-consider installing any app, for that matter.
