Security News > 2020 > July > Android Users Hit with ‘Undeletable’ Adware

UPDATE. A healthy percentage of Android users targeted by mobile malware or mobile adware last year suffered a system partition infection, making the malicious files virtually undeletable.

"A system partition infection entails a high level of risk for the users of infected devices, as a security solution cannot access the system directories, meaning it cannot remove the malicious files," the firm explained, in a posting on Monday.

Research found that most devices harbor pre-installed default applications that are also undeletable - the number of those affected varies from 1 to 5 percent of users with low-cost devices, and reaches 27 percent in extreme cases.

"Infection can happen via two paths: The threat gains root access on a device and installs adware in the system partition, or the code for displaying ads gets into the firmware of the device before it even ends up in the hands of the consumer," according to the firm.

"Our analysis demonstrates that mobile users are not only regularly attacked by adware and other threats, but their device may also be at risk even before they purchased it," said Igor Golovin, security researcher at Kaspersky, in a media statement.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/android-users-undeletable-adware/157189/