The dangerous app on Android that ‘steals’ your data

In “Android” there is an application named ‘System Update’. But it’s not what it looks like. That is, a system upgrade. As researchers at mobile phone security firm “Zimperium” discovered, it’s a malicious app that says it will update, but if you download it, it will steal all the data you have on the phone; and monitor all the movements you make on it.

This is a huge “spyware” application, with “Zimperium” classifying the “app” in the category “Remote Access Trojan (RAT)”, a broad category of malware that allows hackers to access and manipulate your device remotely.

The CEO of “Zimperium”, Sridar Mittal said he believes that:

“this is a ‘targeted’ attack. It’s the most sophisticated “RAT” we’ve ever seen. A lot of time and effort has been spent creating this application. We believe that there are others that work in the same way; and we are trying to find them as soon as possible.”

What can ‘steal’

From text messages and database files to call logs and contacts. Where ‘text messages’ are not only limited to ‘messages’, but also reaches those on ‘WhatsApp’; from which it can steal images and videos, plus any other information. “System Update” gives hackers access to everything is on your smartphone (photos, history), including where you are (GPS location). It can also turn on the microphone and record you while you’re on a call. It is activated every time the device —on which it is installed— receives information.

What does it do with what it ‘steals’?

After taking what it wants to get from your “smartphone”, it uploads —whatever the person who “enters” your device wants to upload— to the “C&C server” (it is a computer that ‘takes out’ instructions on digital devices that are ‘infected’ and can create powerful networks of ‘infected’ devices, as part of a plan to blackmail or sell data) in an encrypted “ZIP” file. Then it deletes the evidence; and what it has done.

Source:

---