I'm an *****

[JayH#AC]

But for anyone else that gets duped into installing this malware:

I was looking to install Flash Player on my Galaxy S4 and got duped into allowing sources outside of Google Play store - First mistake! After completing the install of "Adobe Flash Player" I kept receiving + icons in my notification area that were simply ads.

Turns out a system process has been installed with the name: com3w4rf34fedvf.adobe.flash.player and called "Network" in my list of installed apps. I uninstalled with titanium backup and hopefully will not have too much backlash to deal with. :-[

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central, and yeesh! What a pain. Can you post the link for that shady Flash Player app, so that others know to AVOID it?

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

But for anyone else that gets duped into installing this malware:

I was looking to install Flash Player on my Galaxy S4 and got duped into allowing sources outside of Google Play store - First mistake! After completing the install of "Adobe Flash Player" I kept receiving + icons in my notification area that were simply ads.

Turns out a system process has been installed with the name: com3w4rf34fedvf.adobe.flash.player and called "Network" in my list of installed apps. I uninstalled with titanium backup and hopefully will not have too much backlash to deal with. :-[

It's actually great that Android allows side-loading, but obviously with great power comes great responsibility! It is very important to know that the apps you are installing are from trustworthy sources. Most of the stuff people link to here or over on XDA are pretty safe, just be sure to verify the user that posted it and read the comments to make sure it's a SPAM post or something like that. Also, for what it's worth, some bad apps do make it to the Play Store from time to time (often as forgeries of known popular apps), so even when using Google's "offical" app repository, it's still good practice to verify the developer and make sure the app is legitimate.

It surprises me how many people don't know this, but you can still download the official releases of Flash Player for Android directly from Adobe:
Archived Flash Player versions
Just scroll down to the section labled "Flash Player for Android 4.0 archives" and download what you need (the most recent one). By downloading directly from Adobe, you can be more assured the files are not malware.

 

[JayH#AC]

I found an app on Google Play that once installed gave directions to uncheck "trusted sources" and then download from... So it started as a Play Store app but led me off site.