Security News
In these attacks, part of three campaigns that started between August and October 2021, the attackers used zero-day exploits targeting Chrome and the Android OS to install Predator spyware implants on fully up-to-date Android devices. The government-backed malicious actors who purchased and used these exploits to infect Android targets with spyware are from Egypt, Armenia, Greece, Madagascar, Côte d'Ivoire, Serbia, Spain, and Indonesia, according to Google's analysis.
Google's Threat Analysis Group on Thursday pointed fingers at a North Macedonian spyware developer named Cytrox for developing exploits against five zero-day flaws, four in Chrome and one in Android, to target Android users. "The 0-day exploits were used alongside n-day exploits as the developers took advantage of the time difference between when some critical bugs were patched but not flagged as security issues and when these patches were fully deployed across the Android ecosystem," TAG researchers Clement Lecigne and Christian Resell said.
Microsoft has updated the Windows Subsystem for Android in Windows 11 to make telemetry collection optional and announced an upgrade to Android 12.1. "To help us make Windows Subsystem for Android better and provide useful telemetry about Android app usage, please enable this setting in the Windows Subsystem for Android Settings app!".
A new report from Google's Threat Analysis Group exposes the use of five different zero-day vulnerabilities targeting Chrome browser and Android operating systems. Google assesses with high confidence that these exploits have been packaged by a single commercial surveillance company named Cytrox.
More than 200 Android apps masquerading as fitness, photo editing, and puzzle apps have been observed distributing spyware called Facestealer to siphon user credentials and other valuable information. Facestealer, first documented by Doctor Web in July 2021, refers to a group of fraudulent apps that invade the official app marketplace for Android with the goal of plundering sensitive data such as Facebook login credentials.
Google on Wednesday took to its annual developer conference to announce a host of privacy and security updates, including support for virtual credit cards on Android and Chrome. "When you use autofill to enter your payment details at checkout, virtual cards will add an additional layer of security by replacing your actual card number with a distinct, virtual number," Google's Jen Fitzpatrick said in a statement.
A growing number of Android Google Chrome users in Russia are reporting errors when attempting to install the latest update for the web browser. According to Russian news outlets and numerous user comments on the Play Store, the issues started on May 9th, 2022, when Google released Chrome version 101 for Android.
Finland's National Cyber Security Center has issued a warning about the FluBot Android malware infections increasing due to a new campaign that relies on SMS and MMS for distribution. The FluBot operators use SMS messages claiming to contain links to voicemail, missed call notifications, or alerts about incoming money from an unknown financial transaction.
A new set of trojanized apps spread via the Google Play Store has been observed distributing the notorious Joker malware on compromised Android devices. Despite continued attempts on the part of Google to scale up its defenses, the apps have been continually iterated to search for gaps and slip into the app store undetected.
Google has released monthly security patches for Android with fixes for 37 flaws across different components, one of which is a fix for an actively exploited Linux kernel vulnerability that came to light earlier this year. Tracked as CVE-2021-22600, the vulnerability is ranked "High" for severity and could be exploited by a local user to escalate privileges or deny service.