The Android platform keeps on facing threats from malware from time to time and the latest one to do so is the Joker virus. Similar to its name, the Joker malware relied on ads for signing up people for premium subscriptions and steal data in the background. The malware is dangerous for Android users and as expected, it has been downloaded widely on a lot of Android phones. And in corrective action, Google has now removed all the affected apps from the Play Store.

Google found out about the presence of the Joker malware in 24 apps available for download on the Play Store and as a corrective measure, it has removed these apps for the Play Store. However, unlike some other malware attacks, Joker-infested apps have been downloaded almost half a million times and that means that despite Google removing these apps from the Play Store, the threat is still looming out in the real world.

The Joker malware is very dangerous to data privacy for Android users and it can cause a lot of harm. The malware was able to secretly sign people up to premium subscription services, steal SMS messages, contacts, and gather device information such as the serial and IMEI numbers.

If you happen to use an Android phone and are concerned with the apps that are affected, a list of the infected apps has been released.

--Advocate Wallpaper

--Age Face

--Altar Message

--Antivirus Security - Security Scan

--Beach Camera

--Board picture editing

--Certain Wallpaper

--Climate SMS

--Collate Face Scanner

--Cute Camera

--Dazzle Wallpaper

--Declare Message

--Display Camera

--Great VPN

--Humour Camera

--Ignite Clean

--Leaf Face Scanner

--Mini Camera

--Print Plant scan

--Rapid Face Scanner

--Reward Clean

--Ruddy SMS

--Soby Camera

--Spark Wallpaper

Hence, if you happen to find anyone of these apps in the Play Store, you should immediately uninstall it from your phone. And apart from removing it from your phone, you should also perform a full factory reset on your device to get rid of any other malicious content it leaves on your device.

Do note that that Joker malware's presence has been seen in 37 countries, with India as one of the countries to be largely affected. Other countries include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Malaysia, Myanmar, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Argentina, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States.