Security News > 2024 > February > Anatsa Android malware downloaded 150,000 times via Google Play
The Anatsa banking trojan has been targeting users in Europe by infecting Android devices through malware droppers hosted on Google Play.
Last summer, ThreatFabric warned of another Europe-focused Anatsa campaign that also used dropper apps hosted on Google Play, primarily fake PDF viewer apps.
In the latest Anatsa campaign, the malware operators uses both PDF and fake cleaner apps that promise to free up space on the device by deleting unnecessary files.
At the time of writing, Google removed all Anatsa dropper apps from the official Android store except for the PDF Reader, which continues to be available.
Threat Fabric found in one case that the malicious code update was introduced a week after the dropper app was uploaded on Google Play and added user interface navigation parameters that match those of Samsung devices.
Google tests blocking side-loaded Android apps with risky permissions.
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