Because PLAYFULGHOST is using phishing as a technique, the best way to avoid it is to know common phishing techniques and make sure you can detect them. Only give away personal information to ...

How does PLAYFULGHOST spread? According to Google’s Managed Defense team, attackers have been distributing fake VPN apps infected with malware, hoping to be downloaded by unsuspecting users.

Google warns that legitimate VPN apps are being used to infect devices with malware, urging users to switch to encrypted platforms for better data security.

SEO poisoning is being applied primarily to results related to VPN app downloads. However, the first results actually lead to the download of VPNs trojanized with the “Playfulghost” malware.

Playfulghost is a particularly dangerous strain of malware that enables attackers to remotely execute a range of activities once the device is infected.