Number: IRCNE2015112678
Date: 2015/11/09
According to “zdnet”, researchers have found a new type of Android malware found in thousands of apps, posing as popular titles -- including Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and more.
Making matters worse, it's almost impossible to remove, forcing a user to replace their device entirely.
Lookout Security, a mobile security firm, discovered the new so-called "trojanized adware," which puts a new twist on how cybercriminals are generating money.
By taking legitimate apps from the Google Play store, malicious actors will repackage the app with baked-in adware, and serve it to a third-party app store.
It works like this: the user installs an app from a third-party store, and the app auto-roots gaining access to the entire phone's system -- an act alone that punches a hole in Android's security, opening up more ways for hackers to launch their attacks. Periodically from there, the app will serve ads, which generates money for the attacker.
The good news is that the company said there is no indication that users who install apps from Google Play, Android's official app store, are affected.
The San Francisco, Calif.-based security firm said there exists at least three similar families of Android-based trojanized adware, which serve ads -- Shuanet, Kemoge (known as ShiftyBug), and Shudun (or GhostPush).
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