Google Play has once again made the news because a security researcher discovered malicious apps on the official Android app store. Four VPN and antivirus apps by developers from Hong Kong and China were found serving ads in a malicious ways, such as running ads in the background or displaying them on the home screen and in other places outside of the apps themselves.
The apps are called Free VPN Master, Hotspot VPN, Secure VPN, and Security Master. Together these four adware instances have been downloaded over 500 million times. Despite their malicious behavior, Google has so far not removed the apps from the Play Store.
Read more: VPN apps with 500M+ installs caught serving disruptive ads to Android users
