ESET’s research found that the Android app “iRecorder – Screen Recorder” introduced the malicious code as an app update almost a year after it was first listed on Google Play. According to ESET, the code allowed the app to invisibly upload one minute of ambient audio from the device’s microphone every 15 minutes, as well as extract documents, web pages and media files from the user’s phone.

Google Play has removed the app from its list. It’s a good idea to delete the app if it was installed on your device. The malicious app has accumulated more than 50,000 downloads.

ESET is calling the malicious code AhRat, a customized version of an open-source remote access trojan called AhMyth. Remote access trojans (or RATs) take advantage of broad access to a victim’s device and can often include remote control, but also function similarly to spyware and stalkerware.

In fact, AhMyth isn’t sneaking onto Google Play for the first time. Both Google and Apple check apps for malware before listing them for download. Last year, Google said it prevented more than 1.4 million privacy-violating apps from accessing Google Play.

OS Data Hub provides developers with the organisation’s renowned open and premium mapping data through a suite of APIs.

8,326 developers are now signed up for the OS Data Hub, an increase of more than 600 percent over the same period last year. Between July 2020 and June 2021, the total number of API transactions have exceeded 1.24 billion.

Over the past year, there’s been a 50 percent increase in like-for-like OS Open Data downloads since the hub went live.

Both the public and private sectors have adopted the OS Data Hub for their work.

In the public sector, the NHS and London Ambulance Service used the data provided through Ordnance Survey’s platform to support their critical work during the pandemic.

The London Ambulance Service used the OS Places API to help call handlers filter out the unprecedented volumes of 999 calls that it received from outside its area. The use of the API prevented the need to download huge files and worked immediately.

NHS Digital, meanwhile, used the same API to more efficiently capture the addresses of people requesting COVID-19 home testing kits. Charley Glynn, OS API Product Manager, said:

“We have had some really nice feedback, especially from the public sector. The OS Data Hub has extended our strong and trusted relationship with users across the public sector and helped to grow the use of OS data and the value it delivers.”

In the private sector, data integration platform Iventis used the OS Vector Tile API to use 3D mapping and extruded building heights to seamlessly integrate its own 3D model into the map.

SearchLand, a startup enabling the instant assessment of historic and current market values for all property types in England, used the OS Maps API to create a map-based property and planning data tool for developers, planners, architects, and investors.

Ordnance Survey plans to evolve the OS Data Hub to meet future customer demands. In October, the organisation will release its Downloads API for premium data.