Jakarta – Not all areas are running yet Limited PTM make students still have to go to school online or online from home. However, students need to be careful in using gadgets because there are hundreds of dangerous applications. Anything?
The malicious app was discovered by the cybersecurity research firm Zimperium Labs. They reported the presence of malware or a malicious virus called “Gift Horse”. The malware is believed to have been active for five months, between November 2020 and April 2021.
Malicious apps can ‘steal’ money
According to reports, this malware infiltrated the Play Store and was found in 200 Android apps. Some of these applications come from various categories ranging from tools, entertainment, personalization, lifestyle, online dating, and others.
One of Android application who contributed to spreading this malware is Handy Translator Pro which has been downloaded more than 500,000 times.
In total there are millions of victims who lost due to this application with the Gift Horse malware. The victims were spread in several countries such as the United States, Britain, Brazil, Australia, India, Indonesia, and others.
According to Phone Arena, the Gift Horse malware works by linking phones with premium or paid services without the victim’s knowledge. The average money that hackers robbed from their victims with this scheme is US$42 per month or around Rp. 660 thousand (in an exchange rate of Rp. 15,0000.00).
How the app works
In their report, Zimperian Labs researchers Aazim Yaswant and Nipun Gupta wrote that this scam also uses phishing techniques and hides behind Android applications.
“This rogue Android app looks harmless when it reads its description and asks for access permissions, but this false confidence changes when users are billed for monthly premium services that they subscribe to without their knowledge and consent,” said Zimperium researchers Aazim Yaswant and Nipun. Gupta was quoted as saying by detikEdu from The Hacker News, Friday (1/10).
Much like most banking malware, Gift Horse does not exploit security holes in the Android operating system. Applications that are installed with malware take advantage of users.
How this malware application works is:
– After the user downloads an application containing Gift Horse, this malware takes advantage of the victim’s negligence and uses social engineering to register the victim’s number to a subscription premium SMS service.
– After successfully infecting the device, this malware will shower the victim with various notifications promising free gifts.
– When this notification is clicked, the victim will be directed to a special website page that requires them to enter a phone number for verification.
– The phone number will then be registered to subscribe to the premium SMS service by this ‘scam’ application. Well, this premium SMS service can suck up the victim’s credit every month.
Now, for students who often get premium SMS services from a newly downloaded application, please be careful!
List of 200 apps containing dangerous malware
The following is a list of malicious applications carrying the Gift Horse malware that have been downloaded more than 100,000 times.
If you find one of these applications on your cellphone, you can immediately delete it.
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Malware thieves spread in 200 applications Photo: dock. Zimperium– |
As for the complete list of 200 applications infected with the Gift Horse malware, see the Zimperium blog here.
Make detikers always be careful in downloading application in gadgets, yes!
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