Some researchers from Check Point Research they found that some antivirus applications for smartphonesamong which Alpha Antivirus ed Atom Clean Boosterthey actually release malware. So be careful not to download them. Let’s find out all the details together.
Alpha Antivirus and other smartphone apps that distribute malware
Check Poin Research recently unearthed six applications on the Google Play Store which, instead of protecting smartphones, they spread malware. These applications pretend to be powerful antivirus: they actually infect the device, stealing credentials e Bank information.
The researchers counted further 1,000 IP addresses of infected devices, which are divided between Great Britain and Italy. According to what has been revealed, the apps have been downloaded more than 11,000 times. Luckily, Google immediately removed the applicationsand warns its Android users to be very careful when downloading this kind of application.
The Check Point Research team offered the names of the guilty apps. Among them we find Atom Clean Booster, Super Cleaner, Powerful Cleanertwo app Center Security and also Alpha Antivirus. Furthermore, the researchers are convinced that the attackers are Russian and ask users to pay special attention.
According to the investigations, the 62% of the victims are Italian; the 36%, on the other hand, are English. Hackers have implemented one geo-location function which ignores users in China, India, Romania, Russia, Ukraine or Belarus.
The “fake antivirus”: here is Sharkbot
The Check Point Research team also offers some information about malware: it is Sharkbot and has the goal of steal credentials ed Bank information from the devices it infects. The malware was reported to lure the user with push notifications and pushes him to enter credentials by filling in forms.
When the user enters their credentials in these windows, i Compromised data is sent to a malicious server. So be careful when downloading antivirus applications for your smartphones.