{"id":231778,"date":"2026-04-06T11:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/06\/dangerous-new-novoice-android-malware-could-be-undeletable-on-older-phones-check-your-settings-right-now\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T11:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:40:10","slug":"dangerous-new-novoice-android-malware-could-be-undeletable-on-older-phones-check-your-settings-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/06\/dangerous-new-novoice-android-malware-could-be-undeletable-on-older-phones-check-your-settings-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Dangerous new NoVoice Android malware could be undeletable on older phones \u2014 check your settings right now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/malware-adware\/50-malicious-apps-with-2-3-million-downloads-infecting-android-phones-with-undeletable-malware-what-to-do-now\">Dangerous new NoVoice Android malware could be undeletable on older phones \u2014 check your settings right now<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/malware-adware\/50-malicious-apps-with-2-3-million-downloads-infecting-android-phones-with-undeletable-malware-what-to-do-now\">https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/malware-adware\/50-malicious-apps-with-2-3-million-downloads-infecting-android-phones-with-undeletable-malware-what-to-do-now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-04-06 11:06:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.tomsguide.com\">www.tomsguide.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-354f4289-98fa-4769-b8ad-cb5719849ded\">We\u2019ve always been told that as long as we stick to the Google Play Store and avoid sideloading, our Android phones are safe. However, a sophisticated new malware campaign has just shattered that sense of security.<\/p>\n<p>As reported by BleepingComputer, researchers at the cybersecurity firm McAfee have discovered 50 malicious apps that hid in plain sight on Google&#8217;s official store, racking up 2.3 million downloads while quietly infecting devices with a dangerous new Android malware strain.<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-354f4289-98fa-4769-b8ad-cb5719849ded-2\">Just like in previous malware campaigns, these bad apps posed as system cleaners, mobile games and other utilities. When opened, the apps in question worked as intended and to avoid suspicion, they didn\u2019t request access to unnecessary permissions which is typically a major red flag that an app is malicious.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-continues-below block py-2 text-sm\">Article continues below <\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"\n            flex\n            after:content-[''] after:flex-1 after:ml-4 after:my-[0.7rem] after:border-t after:border-solid after:border-t-[#ccc]\n            before:content-[''] before:flex-1 before:mr-4 before:my-[0.7rem] before:border-t before:border-solid before:border-t-[#ccc]\n            font-article-heading pb-0 !text-base uppercase sm:text-sm font-bold\n        \"><br \/>\n            You may like<br \/>\n        <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Although Android users who installed and used these apps didn\u2019t get the sense that anything was off, in the background, that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. You see, after contacting a hacker-controlled server, the apps profiled the devices they were installed on to look for exploitable weaknesses. If any are found, the new NoVoice Android malware then seizes complete and total control over an infected device, essentially turning it into a hacker\u2019s plaything.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s everything you need to know about this new malware and why it\u2019s one of the most dangerous strains I\u2019ve seen yet, along with some tips and tricks to help keep you and your Android smartphone safe from hackers.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"a-factory-reset-proof-infection-3\">A factory-reset proof infection<\/h2>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:57.06%;\">\n<p><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Shutterstock)<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-7163f3af-ddeb-47ed-b19c-3a8652c29a33\">With most malware, performing a factory reset on one of the best Android phones should do the trick. However, with NoVoice, that won\u2019t work because the malware burrows into the one area a system wipe can&#8217;t touch.<\/p>\n<p>To do so, NoVoice establishes root access by exploiting older vulnerabilities that have since been patched. Since many people don\u2019t update&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/malware-adware\/50-malicious-apps-with-2-3-million-downloads-infecting-android-phones-with-undeletable-malware-what-to-do-now\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dangerous new NoVoice Android malware could be undeletable on older phones \u2014 check your settings&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/MKZXHBEXXXQw7syUEuWt9-1920-80.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[70,35,32,57],"class_list":["post-231778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android","tag-google","tag-hacker","tag-malware","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231780,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231778\/revisions\/231780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}