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Goldoson Android Malware Infects Over 100 Million Google Play Store Downloads

By Ravie Lakshmanan
h A new Android malware strain named Goldoson has been detected in the official Google Play Store spanning more than 60 legitimate apps that collectively have over 100 million downloads. An additional eight million installations have been tracked through ONE store, a leading third-party app storefront in South Korea. The rogue component is part of a third-party software library used by the apps

FBI and FCC warn about “Juicejacking” – but just how useful is their advice?

By Paul Ducklin
USB charging stations - can you trust them? What are the real risks, and how can you keep your data safe on the road?

Severe Android and Novi Survey Vulnerabilities Under Active Exploitation

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added two vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. The two flaws are listed below - CVE-2023-20963 (CVSS score: 7.8) - Android Framework Privilege Escalation Vulnerability CVE-2023-29492 (CVSS score: TBD) - Novi Survey Insecure Deserialization Vulnerability

Cybercriminals Turn to Android Loaders on Dark Web to Evade Google Play Security

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Malicious loader programs capable of trojanizing Android applications are being traded on the criminal underground for up to $20,000 as a way to evade Google Play Store defenses. "The most popular application categories to hide malware and unwanted software include cryptocurrency trackers, financial apps, QR-code scanners, and even dating apps," Kaspersky said in a new report based on messages

Google Mandates Android Apps to Offer Easy Account Deletion In-App and Online

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Google is enacting a new data deletion policy for Android apps that allow account creation to also offer users with a setting to delete their accounts in an attempt to provide more transparency and control over their data. "For apps that enable app account creation, developers will soon need to provide an option to initiate account and data deletion from within the app and online," Bethel

3CX Desktop App Supply Chain Attack Leaves Millions at Risk - Urgent Update on the Way!

By Ravie Lakshmanan
3CX said it's working on a software update for its desktop app after multiple cybersecurity vendors sounded the alarm on what appears to be an active supply chain attack that's using digitally signed and rigged installers of the popular voice and video conferencing software to target downstream customers. "The trojanized 3CX desktop app is the first stage in a multi-stage attack chain that pulls

Spyware Vendors Caught Exploiting Zero-Day Vulnerabilities on Android and iOS Devices

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A number of zero-day vulnerabilities that were addressed last year were exploited by commercial spyware vendors to target Android and iOS devices, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has revealed. The two distinct campaigns were both limited and highly targeted, taking advantage of the patch gap between the release of a fix and when it was actually deployed on the targeted devices. The scale of

Nexus: A New Rising Android Banking Trojan Targeting 450 Financial Apps

By Ravie Lakshmanan
An emerging Android banking trojan dubbed Nexus has already been adopted by several threat actors to target 450 financial applications and conduct fraud. "Nexus appears to be in its early stages of development," Italian cybersecurity firm Cleafy said in a report published this week. "Nexus provides all the main features to perform ATO attacks (Account Takeover) against banking portals and

Google Pixel phones had a serious data leakage bug – here’s what to do!

By Paul Ducklin
What if the "safe" images you shared after carefully cropping them... had some or all of the "unsafe" pixels left behind anyway?

Dangerous Android phone 0-day bugs revealed – patch or work around them now!

By Paul Ducklin
Despite its usually inflexible 0-day disclosure policy, Google is keeping four mobile modem bugs semi-secret due to likely ease of exploitation.

Mispadu Banking Trojan Targets Latin America: 90,000+ Credentials Stolen

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A banking trojan dubbed Mispadu has been linked to multiple spam campaigns targeting countries like Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Portugal with the goal of stealing credentials and delivering other payloads. The activity, which commenced in August 2022, is currently ongoing, Ocelot Team from Latin American cybersecurity firm Metabase Q said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Mispadu (

FakeCalls Vishing Malware Targets South Korean Users via Popular Financial Apps

By Ravie Lakshmanan
An Android voice phishing (aka vishing) malware campaign known as FakeCalls has reared its head once again to target South Korean users under the guise of over 20 popular financial apps. "FakeCalls malware possesses the functionality of a Swiss army knife, able not only to conduct its primary aim but also to extract private data from the victim's device," cybersecurity firm Check Point said.

Xenomorph Android Banking Trojan Returns with a New and More Powerful Variant

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A new variant of the Android banking trojan named Xenomorph has surfaced in the wild, latest findings from ThreatFabric reveal. Named "Xenomorph 3rd generation" by the Hadoken Security Group, the threat actor behind the operation, the updated version comes with new features that allow it to perform financial fraud in a seamless manner. "This new version of the malware adds many new capabilities

Google Teams Up with Ecosystem Partners to Enhance Security of SoC Processors

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Google said it's working with ecosystem partners to harden the security of firmware that interacts with Android. While the Android operating system runs on what's called the application processor (AP), it's just one of the many processors of a system-on-chip (SoC) that cater to various tasks like cellular communications and multimedia processing. "Securing the Android Platform requires going

Even Top-Ranked Android Apps in Google Play Store Provide Misleading Data Safety Labels

By Ravie Lakshmanan
An investigation into data safety labels for Android apps available on the Google Play Store has uncovered "serious loopholes" that allow apps to provide misleading or outright false information. The study, conducted by the Mozilla Foundation as part of its *Privacy Not Included initiative, compared the privacy policies and labels of the 20 most popular paid apps and the 20 most popular free

Experts Warn of RambleOn Android Malware Targeting South Korean Journalists

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Suspected North Korean nation-state actors targeted a journalist in South Korea with a malware-laced Android app as part of a social engineering campaign. The findings come from South Korea-based non-profit Interlab, which coined the new malware RambleOn. The malicious functionalities include the "ability to read and leak target's contact list, SMS, voice call content, location and others from

Google Rolling Out Privacy Sandbox Beta on Android 13 Devices

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Google announced on Tuesday that it's officially rolling out Privacy Sandbox on Android in beta to eligible mobile devices running Android 13. "The Privacy Sandbox Beta provides new APIs that are designed with privacy at the core, and don't use identifiers that can track your activity across apps and websites," the search and advertising giant said. "Apps that choose to participate in the Beta

PixPirate: New Android Banking Trojan Targeting Brazilian Financial Institutions

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A new Android banking trojan has set its eyes on Brazilian financial institutions to commit fraud by leveraging the PIX payments platform. Italian cybersecurity company Cleafy, which discovered the malware between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, is tracking it under the name PixPirate. "PixPirate belongs to the newest generation of Android banking trojan, as it can perform ATS (

Roaming Mantis Spreading Mobile Malware That Hijacks Wi-Fi Routers' DNS Settings

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Threat actors associated with the Roaming Mantis attack campaign have been observed delivering an updated variant of their patent mobile malware known as Wroba to infiltrate Wi-Fi routers and undertake Domain Name System (DNS) hijacking. Kaspersky, which carried out an analysis of the malicious artifact, said the feature is designed to target specific Wi-Fi routers located in South Korea.

Android Users Beware: New Hook Malware with RAT Capabilities Emerges

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The threat actor behind the BlackRock and ERMAC Android banking trojans has unleashed yet another malware for rent called Hook that introduces new capabilities to access files stored in the devices and create a remote interactive session. ThreatFabric, in a report shared with The Hacker News, characterized Hook as a novel ERMAC fork that's advertised for sale for $7,000 per month while featuring

Dridex Malware Now Attacking macOS Systems with Novel Infection Method

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A variant of the infamous Dridex banking malware has set its sights on Apple's macOS operating system using a previously undocumented infection method, according to latest research. It has "adopted a new technique to deliver documents embedded with malicious macros to users without having to pretend to be invoices or other business-related files," Trend Micro researcher Armando Nathaniel

WhatsApp Introduces Proxy Support to Help Users Bypass Internet Censorship

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Popular instant messaging service WhatsApp has launched support for proxy servers in the latest version of its Android and iOS apps, letting users circumvent government-imposed censorship and internet shutdowns. "Choosing a proxy enables you to connect to WhatsApp through servers set up by volunteers and organizations around the world dedicated to helping people communicate freely," the

SpyNote Strikes Again: Android Spyware Targeting Financial Institutions

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Financial institutions are being targeted by a new version of Android malware called SpyNote at least since October 2022 that combines both spyware and banking trojan characteristics. "The reason behind this increase is that the developer of the spyware, who was previously selling it to other actors, made the source code public," ThreatFabric said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "This

BitKeep Confirms Cyber Attack, Loses Over $9 Million in Digital Currencies

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Decentralized multi-chain crypto wallet BitKeep on Wednesday confirmed a cyber attack that allowed threat actors to distribute fraudulent versions of its Android app with the goal of stealing users' digital currencies. "With maliciously implanted code, the altered APK led to the leak of user's private keys and enabled the hacker to move funds," BitKeep CEO Kevin Como said, describing it as a "

GodFather Android Banking Trojan Targeting Users of Over 400 Banking and Crypto Apps

By Ravie Lakshmanan
An Android banking trojan known as GodFather is being used to target users of more than 400 banking and cryptocurrency apps spanning across 16 countries. This includes 215 banks, 94 crypto wallet providers, and 110 crypto exchange platforms serving users in the U.S., Turkey, Spain, Italy, Canada, and Canada, among others, Singapore-headquartered Group-IB said in a report shared with The Hacker

Beware: Cybercriminals Launch New BrasDex Android Trojan Targeting Brazilian Banking Users

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The threat actors behind the Windows banking malware known as Casbaneiro has been attributed as behind a novel Android trojan called BrasDex that has been observed targeting Brazilian users as part of an ongoing multi-platform campaign. BrasDex features a "complex keylogging system designed to abuse Accessibility Services to extract credentials specifically from a set of Brazilian targeted apps,

Researchers Uncover Darknet Service Allowing Hackers to Trojanize Legit Android Apps

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Researchers have shed light on a new hybrid malware campaign targeting both Android and Windows operating systems in a bid to expand its pool of victims. The attacks entail the use of different malware such as ERMAC, Erbium, Aurora, and Laplas, according to a ThreatFabric report shared with The Hacker News. "This campaign resulted in thousands of victims," the Dutch cybersecurity company said,

Hackers Sign Android Malware Apps with Compromised Platform Certificates

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Platform certificates used by Android smartphone vendors like Samsung, LG, and MediaTek have been found to be abused to sign malicious apps. The findings were first discovered and reported by Google reverse engineer Łukasz Siewierski on Thursday. "A platform certificate is the application signing certificate used to sign the 'android' application on the system image," a report filed through the

Watch Out! These Android Keyboard Apps With 2 Million Installs Can be Hacked Remotely

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Multiple unpatched vulnerabilities have been discovered in three Android apps that allow a smartphone to be used as a remote keyboard and mouse. The apps in question are Lazy Mouse, PC Keyboard, and Telepad, which have been cumulatively downloaded over two million times from the Google Play Store. Telepad is no longer available through the app marketplace but can be downloaded from its website.

Schoolyard Bully Trojan Apps Stole Facebook Credentials from Over 300,000 Android Users

By Ravie Lakshmanan
More than 300,000 users across 71 countries have been victimized by a new Android threat campaign called the Schoolyard Bully Trojan. Mainly designed to steal Facebook credentials, the malware is camouflaged as legitimate education-themed applications to lure unsuspecting users into downloading them. The apps, which were available for download from the official Google Play Store, have now been

This Malicious App Abused Hacked Devices to Create Fake Accounts on Multiple Platforms

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A malicious Android SMS application discovered on the Google Play Store has been found to stealthily harvest text messages with the goal of creating accounts on a wide range of platforms like Facebook, Google, and WhatsApp. The app, named Symoo (com.vanjan.sms), had over 100,000 downloads and functioned as a relay for transmitting messages to a server, which advertises an account creation

Millions of Android Devices Still Don't Have Patches for Mali GPU Flaws

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A set of five medium-severity security flaws in Arm's Mali GPU driver has continued to remain unpatched on Android devices for months, despite fixes released by the chipmaker. Google Project Zero, which discovered and reported the bugs, said Arm addressed the shortcomings in July and August 2022. "These fixes have not yet made it downstream to affected Android devices (including Pixel, Samsung,

Bahamut Cyber Espionage Hackers Targeting Android Users with Fake VPN Apps

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The cyber espionage group known as Bahamut has been attributed as behind a highly targeted campaign that infects users of Android devices with malicious apps designed to extract sensitive information. The activity, which has been active since January 2022, entails distributing rogue VPN apps through a fake SecureVPN website set up for this purpose, Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET said in a new

This Android File Manager App Infected Thousands of Devices with SharkBot Malware

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The Android banking fraud malware known as SharkBot has reared its head once again on the official Google Play Store, posing as file managers to bypass the app marketplace's restrictions. A majority of the users who downloaded the rogue apps are located in the U.K. and Italy, Romanian cybersecurity company Bitdefender said in an analysis published this week. SharkBot, first discovered towards

How to Tell Whether a Website Is Safe or Unsafe

By McAfee

It’s important to know that not all websites are safe to visit. In fact, some sites may contain malicious software (malware) that can harm your computer or steal your personal contact information or credit card numbers.  

Phishing is another common type of web-based attack where scammers try to trick you into giving them your personal information, and you can be susceptible to this if you visit a suspicious site.  

Identity theft is a serious problem, so it’s important to protect yourself when browsing the web. Online security threats can be a big issue for internet users, especially when visiting new websites or following site links. 

So how can you tell if you’re visiting a safe website or an unsafe website? You can use a few different methods. This page discusses key things to look for in a website so you can stay safe online. 

Key signs of website safety and security

When you’re visiting a website, a few key indicators can help determine whether the site is safe. This section explores how to check the URL for two specific signs of a secure website. 

”Https:” in the website URL

“Https” in a website URL indicates that the website is safe to visit. The “s” stands for “secure,” and it means that the website uses SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption to protect your information. A verified SSL certificate tells your browser that the website is secure. This is especially important when shopping online or entering personal information into a website. 

When you see “https” in a URL, the site is using a protocol that encrypts information before it’s sent from your computer to the website’s server. This helps prevent anyone from intercepting and reading your sensitive information as it’s transmitted. 

A lock icon near your browser’s URL field

The padlock icon near your browser’s URL field is another indicator that a webpage is safe to visit. This icon usually appears in the address bar and means the site uses SSL encryption. Security tools and icon and warning appearances depend on the web browser. 

Let’s explore the cybersecurity tools on the three major web browsers: 

  • Safari. In the Safari browser on a Mac, you can simply look for the lock icon next to the website’s URL in the address bar. The lock icon will be either locked or unlocked, depending on whether the site uses SSL encryption. If it’s an unsafe website, Safari generates a red-text warning in the address bar saying “Not Secure” or “Website Not Secure” when trying to enter information in fields meant for personal data or credit card numbers. Safari may also generate an on-page security warning stating, “Your connection is not private” or “Your connection is not secure.” 
  • Google Chrome. In Google Chrome, you’ll see a gray lock icon (it was green in previous Chrome versions) on the left of the URL when you’re on a site with a verified SSL certificate. Chrome has additional indicator icons, such as a lowercase “i” with a circle around it. Click this icon to read pertinent information on the site’s cybersecurity. Google Safe Browsing uses security tools to alert you when visiting an unsafe website. A red caution symbol may appear to the left of the URL saying “Not secure.” You may also see an on-page security message saying the site is unsafe due to phishing or malware. 
  • Firefox. Like Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox browser will tag all sites without encryption with a distinctive marker. A padlock with a warning triangle indicates that the website is only partially encrypted and may not prevent cybercriminals from eavesdropping. A padlock with a red strike over it indicates an unsafe website. If you click on a field on the website, it’ll prompt you with a text warning stating, “This connection is not secure.” 

In-depth ways to check a website’s safety and security

Overall, the ”https” and the locked padlock icon are good signs that your personal data will be safe when you enter it on a website. But you can ensure a website’s security is up to par in other ways. This section will explore five in-depth methods for checking website safety. 

Use McAfee WebAdvisor

McAfee WebAdvisor is a free toolbar that helps keep you safe online. It works with your existing antivirus software to provide an extra layer of protection against online threats. WebAdvisor also blocks unsafe websites and lets you know if a site is known for phishing or other malicious activity. In addition, it can help you avoid online scams and prevent you from accidentally downloading malware. Overall, McAfee WebAdvisor is a useful tool that can help you stay safe while browsing the web. 

Website trust seals

When you’re browsing the web, it’s important to be able to trust the websites you’re visiting. One way to determine if a website is trustworthy is to look for trust seals. Trust seals are logos or badges that indicate a website is safe and secure. They usually appear on the homepage or checkout page of a website. 

There are many types of trust seals, but some of the most common include the Better Business Bureau (BBB) seal, VeriSign secure seal, and the McAfee secure seal. These seals indicate that a third-party organization has verified the website as safe and secure. 

While trust seals can help determine whether a website is trustworthy, it’s important to remember that they are not foolproof. Website owners can create a fake trust seal, so it’s always important to do your own research to ensure a website is safe before entering personal information. 

Check for a privacy policy

Another way to determine if a website is safe to visit is to check for a privacy policy. A privacy policy is a document that outlines how a website collects and uses personal information. It should also state how the site protects your data from being accessed or shared by scammers, hackers, or other unauthorized individuals. 

If a website doesn’t have a privacy policy, that’s a red flag that you shouldn’t enter any personal information on the site. Even if a website does have a privacy policy, it’s important to read it carefully so you understand how the site uses your personal data. 

Check third-party reviews

It’s important to do some preliminary research before visiting a new website, especially if you’re shopping online or entering personal data like your address, credit card, or phone number. One way to determine if a website is safe and trustworthy is to check third-party reviews. Several websites provide reviews of other websites, so you should be able to find several reviews for any given site.  

Trustpilot is one example of a website that provides reviews of other websites. 

Look for common themes when reading reviews. If most of the reviews mention that a website is safe and easy to use, it’s likely that the site is indeed safe to visit. However, if a lot of negative reviews mention problems with viruses or malware, you might want to avoid the site. 

Look over the website design

You can also analyze the website design when deciding whether a website is safe to visit. Look for spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, and anything that appears off. If a website looks like it was made in a hurry or doesn’t seem to be well-designed, that’s usually a red flag that the site might not be safe. 

Be especially careful of websites that have a lot of pop-ups. These sites are often spammy or contain malware. Don’t download anything from a website unless you’re absolutely sure it’s safe. These malicious websites rarely show up on the top of search engine results, so consider using a search engine to find what you’re looking for rather than a link that redirects you to an unknown website. 

Download McAfee WebAdvisor for free and stay safe while browsing

If you’re unsure whether a website is safe to visit, download McAfee WebAdvisor for free. McAfee WebAdvisor is a program that helps protect you from online threats, such as malware and viruses. It also blocks pop-ups and other intrusive ads so you can browse the web without worry. Plus, it’s completely free to download and use. 

Download McAfee WebAdvisor now and stay safe while browsing the web. 

The post How to Tell Whether a Website Is Safe or Unsafe appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Google to Roll Out Privacy Sandbox Beta on Android 13 by Early 2023

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Internet behemoth Google on Tuesday said it plans to roll out Privacy Sandbox for Android in beta to mobile devices running Android 13 starting early next year. "The Privacy Sandbox Beta will be available for ad tech and app developers who wish to test the ads-related APIs as part of their solutions," the company said. To that end, developers will need to complete an enrollment process in order

Dangerous SIM-swap lockscreen bypass – update Android now!

By Paul Ducklin
A bit like leaving the front door keys under the doormat...

Experts Uncover Two Long-Running Android Spyware Campaigns Targeting Uyghurs

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Two long-running surveillance campaigns have been found targeting the Uyghur community in China and elsewhere with Android spyware tools designed to harvest sensitive information and track their whereabouts. This encompasses a previously undocumented malware strain called BadBazaar and updated variants of an espionage artifact dubbed MOONSHINE by researchers from the University of Toronto's

Malicious Google Play Store App Spotted Distributing Xenomorph Banking Trojan

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Google has removed two new malicious dropper apps that have been detected on the Play Store for Android, one of which posed as a lifestyle app and was caught distributing the Xenomorph banking malware. "Xenomorph is a trojan that steals credentials from banking applications on users' devices," Zscaler ThreatLabz researchers Himanshu Sharma and Viral Gandhi said in an analysis published Thursday.

Warning: New Massive Malicious Campaigns Targeting Top Indian Banks' Customers

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Cybersecurity researchers are warning of "massive phishing campaigns" that distribute five different malware targeting banking users in India. "The bank customers targeted include account subscribers of seven banks, including some of the most well-known banks located in the country and potentially affecting millions of customers," Trend Micro said in a report published this week. Some of the

Hacker Rewarded $70,000 for Finding Way to Bypass Google Pixel Phones' Lock Screens

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Google has resolved a high-severity security issue affecting all Pixel smartphones that could be trivially exploited to unlock the devices. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-20465 and reported by security researcher David Schütz in June 2022, was remediated as part of the search giant's monthly Android update for November 2022. "The issue allowed an attacker with physical access to bypass

These Android Apps with a Million Play Store Installations Redirect Users to Malicious Sites

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A set of four Android apps released by the same developer has been discovered directing victims to malicious websites as part of an adware and information-stealing campaign. The apps, published by a developer named Mobile apps Group and currently available on the Play Store, have been collectively downloaded over one million times. According to Malwarebytes, the websites are designed to generate

Experts Warn of SandStrike Android Spyware Infecting Devices via Malicious VPN App

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A previously undocumented Android spyware campaign has been found striking Persian-speaking individuals by masquerading as a seemingly harmless VPN application. Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky is tracking the campaign under the moniker SandStrike. It has not been attributed to any particular threat group. "SandStrike is distributed as a means to access resources about the Bahá'í religion 

These Dropper Apps On Play Store Targeting Over 200 Banking and Cryptocurrency Wallets

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Five malicious dropper Android apps with over 130,000 cumulative installations have been discovered on the Google Play Store distributing banking trojans like SharkBot and Vultur, which are capable of stealing financial data and performing on-device fraud. "These droppers continue the unstopping evolution of malicious apps sneaking to the official store," Dutch mobile security firm ThreatFabric

These 16 Clicker Malware Infected Android Apps Were Downloaded Over 20 Million Times

By Ravie Lakshmanan
As many as 16 malicious apps with over 20 million cumulative downloads have been taken down from the Google Play Store after they were caught committing mobile ad fraud. The Clicker malware masqueraded as seemingly harmless utilities like cameras, currency/unit converters, QR code readers, note-taking apps, and dictionaries, among others, in a bid to trick users into downloading them,

Modified WhatsApp App Caught Infecting Android Devices with Malware

By Ravie Lakshmanan
An unofficial version of the popular WhatsApp messaging app called YoWhatsApp has been observed deploying an Android trojan known as Triada. The goal of the malware is to steal the keys that "allow the use of a WhatsApp account without the app," Kaspersky said in a new report. "If the keys are stolen, a user of a malicious WhatsApp mod can lose control over their account." <!--adsense-->

Hackers Using Vishing to Trick Victims into Installing Android Banking Malware

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Malicious actors are resorting to voice phishing (vishing) tactics to dupe victims into installing Android malware on their devices, new research from ThreatFabric reveals. The Dutch mobile security company said it identified a network of phishing websites targeting Italian online-banking users that are designed to get hold of their contact details. Telephone-oriented attack delivery (TOAD), as

Google Rolling Out Passkey Passwordless Login Support to Android and Chrome

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Google on Wednesday officially rolled out support for passkeys, the next-generation authentication standard, to both Android and Chrome. "Passkeys are a significantly safer replacement for passwords and other phishable authentication factors," the tech giant said. "They cannot be reused, don't leak in server breaches, and protect users from phishing attacks." The feature was first announced in

Facebook Detects 400 Android and iOS Apps Stealing Users Log-in Credentials

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Meta Platforms on Friday disclosed that it had identified over 400 malicious apps on Android and iOS that it said targeted online users with the goal of stealing their Facebook login information. "These apps were listed on the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store and disguised as photo editors, games, VPN services, business apps, and other utilities to trick people into downloading them," the

Experts Warn of New RatMilad Android Spyware Targeting Enterprise Devices

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A novel Android malware called RatMilad has been observed targeting a Middle Eastern enterprise mobile device by concealing itself as a VPN and phone number spoofing app. The mobile trojan functions as advanced spyware with capabilities that receives and executes commands to collect and exfiltrate a wide variety of data from the infected mobile endpoint, Zimperium said in a report shared with

Fake Indian Banking Rewards Apps Targeting Android Users with Info-stealing Malware

By Ravie Lakshmanan
An SMS-based phishing campaign is targeting customers of Indian banks with information-stealing malware that masquerades as a rewards application. The Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team said that the messages contain links that redirect users to a sketchy website that triggers the download of the fake banking rewards app for ICICI Bank. "The malware's RAT capabilities allow the attacker to

Researchers Find New Android Spyware Campaign Targeting Uyghur Community

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A previously undocumented strain of Android spyware with extensive information gathering capabilities has been found disguised as a book likely designed to target the Uyghur community in China. The malware comes under the guise of a book titled "The China Freedom Trap," a biography written by the exiled Uyghur leader Dolkun Isa. <!--adsense--> "In light of the ongoing conflict between the

Fake Antivirus and Cleaner Apps Caught Installing SharkBot Android Banking Trojan

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The notorious Android banking trojan known as SharkBot has once again made an appearance on the Google Play Store by masquerading as antivirus and cleaner apps. "This new dropper doesn't rely on Accessibility permissions to automatically perform the installation of the dropper Sharkbot malware," NCC Group's Fox-IT said in a report. "Instead, this new version asks the victim to install the

Over 1,800 Android and iOS Apps Found Leaking Hard-Coded AWS Credentials

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Researchers have identified 1,859 apps across Android and iOS containing hard-coded Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials, posing a major security risk. "Over three-quarters (77%) of the apps contained valid AWS access tokens allowing access to private AWS cloud services," Symantec's Threat Hunter team, a part of Broadcom Software, said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Interestingly, a

Microsoft Discover Severe ‘One-Click’ Exploit for TikTok Android App

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Microsoft on Wednesday disclosed details of a now-patched "high severity vulnerability" in the TikTok app for Android that could let attackers take over accounts when victims clicked on a malicious link. "Attackers could have leveraged the vulnerability to hijack an account without users' awareness if a targeted user simply clicked a specially crafted link," Dimitrios Valsamaras of the Microsoft

Researchers Find Counterfeit Phones with Backdoor to Hack WhatsApp Accounts

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Budget Android device models that are counterfeit versions associated with popular smartphone brands are harboring multiple trojans designed to target WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business messaging apps. The malware, which Doctor Web first came across in July 2022, were discovered in the system partition of at least four different smartphones: P48pro, radmi note 8, Note30u, and Mate40, was "These

Cybercriminals Developing BugDrop Malware to Bypass Android Security Features

By Ravie Lakshmanan
In a sign that malicious actors continue to find ways to work around Google Play Store security protections, researchers have spotted a previously undocumented Android dropper trojan that's currently in development. "This new malware tries to abuse devices using a novel technique, not seen before in Android malware, to spread the extremely dangerous Xenomorph banking trojan, allowing criminals

SOVA Android Banking Trojan Returns With New Capabilities and Targets

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The SOVA Android banking trojan is continuing to be actively developed with upgraded capabilities to target no less than 200 mobile applications, including banking apps and crypto exchanges and wallets, up from 90 apps when it started out. That's according to the latest findings from Italian cybersecurity firm Cleafy, which found newer versions of the malware sporting functionality to intercept
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