Lookout has posted on their blog to inform Android users of
the new malware family, named 'BadNews' that has been lurking in Google's Play
Store.
According to Google Play statistics, the malware has been
downloaded millions of times and can be found in 32 apps across four different
developer accounts.
Marc Rogers, Principal Security Researcher at Lookout, wrote
on the blog to say, "We have notified Google and they promptly removed all
apps and suspended the associated developer accounts pending further
investigation.
The Android malware poses as advertisements with the ability
to, "send fake news messages, prompt users to install applications and sends
sensitive information such as the phone number and device ID to its Command and
Control (C&C) server," Lookout states.
About half of the infected apps are in Russian and BadNews
was recorded as sending AlphaSMS, premium rate SMS fraud in the Russian Federation,
to infected devices.
The servers have been noted in Russia, Ukraine, and one in
Germany. Lookout inform Android users to make sure the Android system setting
'nknown sources' is unchecked to prevent dropped or drive-by-download app
installs and to download a mobile security app, like Lookout's.
A recent annual report, published by mobile security company
NQ Mobile, has estimated that Android Malware has more than doubled worldwide
last year with nearly 33 million devices infected, from 11 million in 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment