Security News

Sneaky DogeRAT Trojan Poses as Popular Apps, Targets Indian Android Users
2023-05-30 07:02

A new open source remote access trojan called DogeRAT targets Android users primarily located in India as part of a sophisticated malware campaign. The malware is distributed via social media and messaging platforms under the guise of legitimate applications like Opera Mini, OpenAI ChatGOT, and Premium versions of YouTube, Netflix, and Instagram.

Alien versus Predator? No, this Android spyware works together
2023-05-27 01:23

The Android Predator spyware has more surveillance capabilities than previously suspected, according to analysis by Cisco Talos, with an assist from non-profit Citizen Lab in Canada. The software, which is designed to spy on and extract data from the devices it's slipped into, is available for Google Android and Apple iOS. In its deep dive published on Thursday, which examines the Android version of the code, Talos suggests Alien is more than just a loader for a Predator, and that the two work in combination to enable all kinds of espionage and intelligence-gathering activities on compromised devices.

Predator Android Spyware: Researchers Uncover New Data Theft Capabilities
2023-05-26 12:39

Security researchers have shared a deep dive into the commercial Android spyware called Predator, which is marketed by the Israeli company Intellexa. "A deep dive into both spyware components indicates that Alien is more than just a loader for Predator and actively sets up the low-level capabilities needed for Predator to spy on its victims," Cisco Talos said in a technical report.

Predator: Looking under the hood of Intellexa’s Android spyware
2023-05-25 18:57

Security researchers at Cisco Talos and the Citizen Lab have presented a new technical analysis of the commercial Android spyware 'Predator' and its loader 'Alien,' sharing its data-theft capabilities and other operational details. Predator is a commercial spyware for mobile platforms developed and sold by Israeli company Intellexa.

This legit Android app turned into mic-snooping malware – and Google missed it
2023-05-24 23:58

Google Play has been caught with its cybersecurity pants down yet again after a once-legit Android screen-and-audio recorder app was updated to include malicious code. Potentially tens of thousands of people downloaded the software before ESET researchers found the hidden malware and alerted Google, which pulled the app from its online store.

Data Stealing Malware Discovered in Popular Android Screen Recorder App
2023-05-24 10:33

Google has removed a screen recording app named "iRecorder - Screen Recorder" from the Play Store after it was found to sneak in information stealing capabilities nearly a year after the app was published as an innocuous app. The app, which accrued over 50,000 installations, was first uploaded on September 19, 2021.

Legitimate Android app transforms into data-snooping malware
2023-05-24 07:51

This is not the first time that AhMyth-based Android malware has been available on the official store; ESET previously published research on such a trojanized app in 2019. The iRecorder app can also be found on alternative and unofficial Android markets, and the developer also provides other applications on Google Play, but they don't contain malicious code.

New AhRat Android malware hidden in app with 50,000 installs
2023-05-23 14:53

ESET malware researchers found a new remote access trojan on the Google Play Store, hidden in an Android screen recording app with tens of thousands of installs. While first added to the store in September 2021, the 'iRecorder - Screen Recorder' app was likely trojanized via a malicious update released almost a year later, in August 2022.

Google launches bug bounty program for its Android applications
2023-05-22 21:18

Google has launched the Mobile Vulnerability Rewards Program, a new bug bounty program that will pay security researchers for flaws found in the company's Android applications. As the company said, the main goal behind the Mobile VRP is to speed up the process of finding and fixing weaknesses in first-party Android apps, developed or maintained by Google.

Android phones are vulnerable to fingerprint brute-force attacks
2023-05-21 14:12

The authors of the technical paper published on Arxiv.org also found that biometric data on the fingerprint sensors' Serial Peripheral Interface were inadequately protected, allowing for a man-in-the-middle attack to hijack fingerprint images. The idea of BrutePrint is to perform an unlimited number of fingerprint image submissions to the target device until the user-defined fingerprint is matched.