Beware: Fake 'Guide For Pokémon Go' App Tricks Half A Million Players To Download Malware

Pokémon Go has made history gathering hordes of fans; it was just a matter of time before the worldwide trend was under attack by users with wicked intents. Pokémon Go was only available in a few countries at its time of launch in July. This situation prompted many of those who wanted to try the game to look for third-party download sites, but as was suspected by many, these Pokémon Go Apps had been infected with malware allowing hackers to take control of the victim's smartphone.

Now as most of the countries' smartphone users have access to the genuine version of the mobile game, the malware-infected versions of Pokémon Go seemd to fade away. However, security researchers have now found a new problem: hacker-designed apps that are linked to the game.

The app, "Guide For Pokémon Go," was available until a few days ago for download on the Google Play store. Site reports it was already downloaded about 500,000 times. According to Kaspersky's analysis, the app was able to infect at least 6,000 of its victims' phones.

"Typical analysis reveal that the app contained a malicious piece of coding that downloads rooting malware." Roman Unuchek of Kaspersky Labs' wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. A rooting malware is capable of gaining access to the core of the Android operating system. The researcher also added that while the infection appears to have hit smartphone users mostly from India,Russia and Indonesia, the app being English suggests that others users around the Globe may be affected as well.

According to Kate Kochetkova of Kaspersky Lab, the malware doesn't activate immediately but when it does it floods the phone with advertisements. The App can also secretly install additional apps onto the Phone, she added. "For now, criminals have chosen a comparatively mild way to earn money" Kochetkova stated in a blog post." They may tomorrow decide to steal money from your bank account."

For anyone who currently has the 'Guide to Pokémon Go' app, Kaspersky Lab suggests to immediately delete it and run the free scanning software to confirm that your device has not been infected.