Apps surrounding the theme of malware droppers can be found in the ratio of millions. And they’re getting thousands of downloads across the board. Experts are outlining the list of malicious apps that need to be deleted soon before they end up doing more damage than anticipated. But the worst thing about the entire ordeal is how hard they are to spot as compared to all others. And this is what makes it difficult for people to catch and notice immediately.
A lot of these apps have undergone thousands of installs and they're still carrying out dubious actions. The new range of applications on the Google Play Store utilizes means like fake updates for banking trojan installations across devices belonging to people who had zero clue of what they were capable of.
The report comes to us thanks to the likes of Bleeping Computers who claim it’s getting a lot easier with time to include such apps in the Play Store as they’re not possessing any harmful codes that can be spotted immediately. What they are doing is infecting smartphones on Android with various forms of malware that arise after its installation.
Another factor that makes them really hard to spot is how they work with advertisers after being downloaded so a lot of normal behavior masks the malicious behavior and you’ve got zero clue at the end of what’s going on.
It was thanks to Threat Fabric who is going public with the news after spotting the malicious findings and highlighting them in a new report. Cybercriminals are on the run and now, it’s just so much easier to have vulnerable devices infected, more than anything else.
The general consensus now is to have these apps removed from your system if they’re seen on your Android device. These need to be deleted manually at a quicker pace than usual. A lot of the apps entail crypto wallets while a few have banking apps in them too.
They’re commonly targeted and hence that puts users’ sensitive finance details at risk on infected devices. The list can be downloaded online through the website but we’re briefly discussing a few for you below.
They include File Manager, Recover Audio, Images and Videos, Finance Tracker, and Zetter Authentication. So far, they’ve got into download figures ranging between the 1000 to 100,000 mark and that really is a lot.
The security researchers conducting the study say they’ve found out during such an investigation how a couple of malware dropper campaigns have massively distributed the likes of SharkBot and Vultur which are serious banking trojans.
The former uses false login screens so that users’ banking and other credentials are stolen. In the same way, it ends up stealing and disguising texts that take advantage of your Android device. While it’s still in the process of causing destruction, the app is yet to receive a lot of downloads considering how frequently it’s found in all leading parts of the world like the US, Spain, Australia, the UK, Germany, and more.
Then there’s another malware campaign called Vultur that’s distributed as another leading banking trojan app. It uses the likes of social media, messaging, and more to steal credentials belonging to users. But a new variant has also been discovered that really records things like gestures, clicks, and more done by victims across Android phones.
Experts feel the best way to protect yourself from all of this is by being super careful when you’re installing an application across your device. Ask yourself if you need it or not and then be sure to read out the reviews and glance over the ratings too. Also, any app that asks for an update, right after downloads is worth reconsidering.
Read next: What Brand Gets Impersonated the Most During Phishing Attacks? The Answer Might Surprise You
A lot of these apps have undergone thousands of installs and they're still carrying out dubious actions. The new range of applications on the Google Play Store utilizes means like fake updates for banking trojan installations across devices belonging to people who had zero clue of what they were capable of.
The report comes to us thanks to the likes of Bleeping Computers who claim it’s getting a lot easier with time to include such apps in the Play Store as they’re not possessing any harmful codes that can be spotted immediately. What they are doing is infecting smartphones on Android with various forms of malware that arise after its installation.
Another factor that makes them really hard to spot is how they work with advertisers after being downloaded so a lot of normal behavior masks the malicious behavior and you’ve got zero clue at the end of what’s going on.
It was thanks to Threat Fabric who is going public with the news after spotting the malicious findings and highlighting them in a new report. Cybercriminals are on the run and now, it’s just so much easier to have vulnerable devices infected, more than anything else.
The general consensus now is to have these apps removed from your system if they’re seen on your Android device. These need to be deleted manually at a quicker pace than usual. A lot of the apps entail crypto wallets while a few have banking apps in them too.
They’re commonly targeted and hence that puts users’ sensitive finance details at risk on infected devices. The list can be downloaded online through the website but we’re briefly discussing a few for you below.
They include File Manager, Recover Audio, Images and Videos, Finance Tracker, and Zetter Authentication. So far, they’ve got into download figures ranging between the 1000 to 100,000 mark and that really is a lot.
The security researchers conducting the study say they’ve found out during such an investigation how a couple of malware dropper campaigns have massively distributed the likes of SharkBot and Vultur which are serious banking trojans.
The former uses false login screens so that users’ banking and other credentials are stolen. In the same way, it ends up stealing and disguising texts that take advantage of your Android device. While it’s still in the process of causing destruction, the app is yet to receive a lot of downloads considering how frequently it’s found in all leading parts of the world like the US, Spain, Australia, the UK, Germany, and more.
Then there’s another malware campaign called Vultur that’s distributed as another leading banking trojan app. It uses the likes of social media, messaging, and more to steal credentials belonging to users. But a new variant has also been discovered that really records things like gestures, clicks, and more done by victims across Android phones.
Experts feel the best way to protect yourself from all of this is by being super careful when you’re installing an application across your device. Ask yourself if you need it or not and then be sure to read out the reviews and glance over the ratings too. Also, any app that asks for an update, right after downloads is worth reconsidering.
Read next: What Brand Gets Impersonated the Most During Phishing Attacks? The Answer Might Surprise You
