WAP-billing Trojan-Clickers on rise

During the preparation of the "IT threat evolution Q2 2017" report I found several common Trojans in the "Top 20 mobile malware programs" list that were stealing money from users using WAP-billing - a form of mobile payment that charges costs directly to the user's mobile phone bill so they don't...

Ztorg: from rooting to SMS

I've been monitoring Google Play Store for new Ztorg Trojans since September 2016, and have so far found several dozen new malicious apps. All of them were rooting malware that used exploits to gain root rights on the infected device. Then, in the second half of May 2017 I found one that wasn't...

Obad Trojan First to Spread Via Mobile Botnet

The keepers of the mobile Obad Trojan realize the window of opportunity they have to spread the malware on Android devices may be closing since the vulnerability the Trojan exploits has been patched in Android 4.3. That could explain why Kaspersky Lab researchers have spotted a recent spike in...

New Attack Leverages Mobile Ad Network to Deliver Android Malware

Ad networks have been a key component of the malware and cybercrime ecosystem for a long time and their role is becoming more and more complicated, as researchers from WhiteHat Security showed at Black Hat recently. That problem is now moving to the mobile Web, and researchers at Palo Alto Networ...

'BadNews' Android Malware downloaded up to 9 million times

It appears as if another malware scare has come to Android. Lookout Security said on Friday that it has discovered a new family of malware called BadNews. Malware that avoided detection and made its way onto the Google Play store has been downloaded around 9 million times by users from all over t...

Google Adds Malware Scanner to Jelly Bean 4.2

Google has been taking some steps to address the problem of malware on the Android platform in recent months, introducing the Bouncer antimalware system and some better anti-exploit technologies in Jelly Bean, the most recent version of the operating system. Now, the company is implementing some...

More Apps Pulled From Android Market Over Hidden SMS Functionality

There has been another round of malicious apps discovered in the official Android Market, with this wave containing hidden functionality to send SMS messages to premium-rate numbers. The apps, which Google has pulled from the Market already, are counterfeit versions of popular games, including...

QR codes - Next way for Android Malware

Once a user scans the QR code, the code redirects them to a site that will install a Trojan on their Android smart phones. Kaspersky's SecureList blog has a report of a malicious QR code on a web site which when scanned directs the user to a URL; the linked site doesn't have a file matching the...

New SMS Trojan Targeting Android Users

The Apple iPhone may still be the gold standard when it comes to smartphones, but the Android platform has become the playground of choice for attackers and malware authors looking to make a quick buck. The latest example is a premium-rate SMS Trojan that not only automatically sends costly SMS...

Threats Go Mobile

Smartphone adoption has exploded in recent years, and this has not been lost on the attackers who are looking for the best way to separate users from their money and confidential data. There were several examples of attackers sneaking malicious applications into mobile app stores, some disguised ...