New Flappy bird clone built by hackers to steel android pics.A forum post on anonymous image board AnonIP shows that a developer created a function in a cloned Flappy Bird app that would surreptitiously collect all the photos on an Android device and send them to a remote server.
The legitimate developer gone rogue planned to release the clone of the game on Google Play but did not want to risk his developer license.
To solve the problem, he was willing to appeal to a second developer account, specifically created for the purpose of stealing pictures from infected Android devices.
For this, he asked for the help from fellow anons to pay for the account, according to a tweet from security consultant Nik Cubrilovic.
The scheme leveraged on users’ negligence to check the permissions of a mobile app upon adding it to the device. A game asking for access to stored photos is extremely phishy, but many users do not pay attention to these details.
The real Flappy Bird game, written by Dong Nguyen, has been one of the most popular apps of the year – its addictive tough gameplay and retro graphics either managing to both frustrate and charm in equal measure. Scores of copycat rip-offs of the game exist in the Android Google Play store, and although it’s not known if the hacker’s plan was ever put into action – it’s certainly plausible that it would work.
The Vietnamese developer has recently released another game, Swing Copters, which was cloned by scammers even before it hit the marketplace. When it was officially launched, the game came in 63rd place because of the fake apps.
Don’t forget, always be careful about what apps you put on your mobile phone, and take special care over the permissions that they request. If you don’t want to grant an app access, don’t install it.