By Nathan Collier
Android.RoidSec has the package name “cn.phoneSync”, but an application name of “wifi signal Fix”. From a ‘Malware 101′ standpoint, you would think the creators would have a descriptive package name that matches the application name. Not so, in this case. So what is Android.RoidSec? It’s a nasty, malicious app that sits in the background (and avoids installing any launcher icon) while collecting all sorts of info-stealing goodness. Continue reading
By Cameron Palan and Nathan Collier
Recently, we discovered a new malicious Android application called Android.MouaBot. This malicious software is a bot contained within another basic app; in this case, a Chinese calculator application. Behind the scenes, it automatically sends an SMS message to an auto-reply number which replies back to the phone with a set of commands/keywords. This message is then parsed and the various plugins within the malicious packages are run or enabled.
By Nathan Collier
We have found a new threat we are calling Android.TechnoReaper. This malware has two parts: a downloader available on the Google Play Market and the spyware app it downloads. The downloaders are disguised as font installing apps, as seen below:
On Wednesday, February 27th, Webroot’s Security Intelligence Director (Grayson Milbourne) and Senior Mobile Analyst (Armando Orozco) presented at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. Their topic, Android Malware Exposed – An In-depth Look at its Evolution, is an expansion on their previous year’s presentation, highlighting the severity of Android malware growth. Focusing on the history of operating system releases and the diversity across the market, as well at the threat vectors and behaviors in the evolution of Android malware, the team has established strong predictions for 2013. Continue reading
by Armando Orozco
Recently, two applications designed with malicious intent were discovered within the Google Play application store. The apps were built with a façade of being utility cleaners designed to help optimize Android-powered phones, but in reality, both apps had code built in designed to copy private files, including photos, and submit them to remote servers.
The applications, named SuperClean and DroidClean, did not stop there. Researchers also found that the malware was able to AutoRun on Windows PC devices when the phones were paired, and infect the main computer. The malware was designed to record audio through the computer’s microphone.
AutoRun has often been used as a method of infection, and Microsoft has since sent a security fix out to Windows XP/Vista/7 in order to disable the exploitable element. In some cases, however, the feature might have been re-enabled by the user for convenience or never changed through a backlog of updates.
An application such as this has not been seen in the past, and is showing the creative methods through which malware coders are attempting to break through a computer’s security. With the Android device acting as a Trojan horse for the infection, malicious code has the potential of bypassing established security parameters that typically keep endpoint users safe within their network.
While Webroot has classified the malicious apps, which have been removed from Google Play’s market, it goes to show that protective steps are necessary on all levels of devices to avoid an infection. Below, we will highlight the steps you can take to help stay protected from attacks like these.
Android Devices:
Webroot SecureAnywhere (PC users):
For all users, we recommend ensuring that AutoRun is disabled on your computer. Even though Microsoft rolled out updates to disable, it is possible it could be enabled. Finally, always ensure you scan USB and other connected devices for malware before storing data or using on other PCs.
For more information and to keep up with the conversation, head to our community: http://bit.ly/11RKiFa
Source: SecureList http://www.securelist.com/en/blog/805/Mobile_attacks
By Dancho Danchev
Over the past 24 hours, our sensor networks picked up an interesting website infection affecting a popular Bulgarian website for branded watches, which ultimately redirects and downloads premium rate SMS Android malware on the visiting user devices. The affected Bulgarian website is only the tip of the iceberg, based on the diversified portfolio of malicious domains known to have been launched by the same party that launched the original campaign.
More details:
By Joe McManus
Last week Adobe announced that they would no longer be supporting Flash for Android. Adobe will be removing Flash from the Android Marketplace and users should be wary of fake Flash apps for their Android Devices. Now to be fair to Adobe, they are not taking flash away from the Android platform but are focusing on the Adobe AIR cross platform runtime environment http://www.adobe.com/products/air.html. The reason Adobe is switching to AIR is to allow app developers to write one program for use on iOS and Android devices.
Let’s look at some of the fake Flash apps for Android that we have seen and what they do. This is just a small sampling; there are too many to highlight them all.
This first app we’ll look at is one of hundreds of premium SMS Trojans being distributed on third party markets that are fake installers for legitimate applications. What they really do is charge for what may or may not be a download of an already free app. The scam works when the user agrees to their ‘Terms’ and the app will send out three SMS messages containing SMS short codes that come with a fee. These messages go to a premium service setup by the malware author and will appear as charges on you phone bill. The charges vary depending on the user’s location but range around $8-12.
This has appeared many times as Flash Player 11, Flash Payer 10, FlashPlayer, etc. Webroot detects them as Android.FakeInst and has been tracking these type of fake installer for over a year; here, here and here.
Our next example is another scam of sorts. It doesn’t charge for anything but will install a bunch of aggressive advertising SDKs that are known to create ad-related notifications, shortcuts and bookmarks. This app requests 24 Android OS and device-specific permissions when, at most, it would need the INTERNET and WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissions. The additional 22 permissions are for the ad SDKs. Webroot detects one of the ad SDKs bundled with the app as a Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA) and labels it Android.Ads.Plankton.B.
Although it does download Adobe Flash for Android after agreeing to their License Agreement it does come with the cost of a bunch of other non-flash related stuff.
This final example is for an app that claims to be Flash Player but really installs an Adobe Flash Icon, that merely opens a browser window full of advertisements. These types of apps are annoying and really are meant to drive web traffic to sites so the developer can receive pay-per-click revenue, and in this case they deceive the customer into thinking they’re getting a known productive app. Like the previous example, this app isn’t malicious, but it’s more deceptive and doesn’t deliver on what it claims, for that Webroot detects Android.DreamStepFlash as a PUA.
Malicious and untrustworthy apps come in many different flavors, and as you can see, Adobe Flash is one that is used to lure unsuspecting users to install. Adobe will continue to release security updates for Adobe Flash and suggests you uninstall if your device is able to upgrade to Android 4.1.
Remember, always choose your apps wisely and download from a trusted source. Check reviews, research the developer and verify permissions requested before downloading.
By Nathan Collier
Earlier this year, the SMS Trojan Foncy was discovered targeting French-speaking Android Users. Now, we’ve come across a new Trojan targeting them using a similar SMS scam. The app pretends to be an app called BlackMart Alpha, which is already a little shady since it’s used to download apps that may otherwise cost money. This app is not found on Google Play and is not malicious in itself, but the fact that you can’t get it in the Google Play store makes it a prefect target for malware developers to make fake versions of it. Webroot detects this Trojan as Android.SMS.FakeB-Mart. It works by sending premium SMS messages to two different numbers (81211 and 81038), which have both been involved with scams that add a hefty Euro charge to the victim’s phone bill. In one case, someone was scammed out of €89.85 , or $110.49. Once the malicious app is installed, it looks like the legitimate BlackMart Alpha app, but doesn’t completely load. A pop-up box opens stating that it’s loading with a increasing percentage. This tricks the user into thinking the app is loading while it’s really sending premium SMS messages in the background.
The app deletes any incoming SMS messages from 81211 to hide any confirmation SMS messages.
Being tricked by this fake blackmarket app when trying to download pirated apps could end up being a lot more expensive than just paying for the app from a trusted app market. Another lesson to always install apps from trusted markets.
By Nathan Collier
Recently Webroot posted a blog about an app called “London Olympics Widget” which was found in a third party market that may need further clarification. This app is what we consider a Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA). PUAs are apps are not considered to be good, nor are they considered malware either. They are apps that walk a thin line and thus are in a grey area. The app in question was classified as a PUA because the of the advertisement SDK add-ons it contains. There are a lot of free apps out there that contain these advertisement SDK add-ons in order to create revenue, and that’s okay. It’s when these advertisement SDK add-ons are overly aggressive and display behaviors such as creating ad related home screen icons and bookmarks, accessing the contact list, and displaying ads in your notification bar that we call these PUAs. We detect these annoying apps in order to inform the user of its presence. Google has recently taken the same stance against these aggressive advertisements and has updated their Ad Policies to warn developers that this type of aggressive advertising will no longer be allowed in the market: Google Play Developer Program Policies
In the case of “London Olympics Widget”, it is a simple app that displays what events are going on in the Olympics on which days. Nothing wrong with that at all. The reason we have classified this as a Potentially Unwanted Application is because it is using the Olympics to draw people into installing their apps so they can make money on multiple aggressive advertisement SDK add-ons. It is the aggressive advertisement SDK add-ons that are requesting permissions to read contacts, look up device ids, and read SMS messages. Why do they want to read your SMS, collect your contacts and blast you with ads? Probably not to make your mobile experience better. Permissions are a scary thing, but just because an app has a permission to do something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s malicious. It’s the code within the app that uses these permissions that makes the determination of good or bad. Can “London Olympics Widget” read your contacts and read your SMS? Yes, but that doesn’t mean they are using the data collected in a malicious way. They are using the data to for advertisement reasons which isn’t considered blatantly malicious, but is considered something you may not want on your device which is why we detect it as a PUA.
As always, make sure you install apps from safe markets, and if it has more permissions than what you think it should, be cautious. Scanning with Webroot SecureAnywhere Mobile will detect PUAs and malware to make sure users stay ad annoyance free, and safe while using a mobile device.
London Olympic Widget with shortcuts added by aggressive advertisement SDK
Screen shot of app showing Olympic event on August 11th
Ads that popped up in notification bar
By Nathan Collier
Every super hero has an arch nemesis. For a lot of Threat Researchers, including myself, Rogue Security Products, or better known as FakeAV, is theirs. Back in the day when I was primarily a PC malware fighter, FakeAV was a prevalent threat that was always coming up with new ways to infect users nearly every other day. I knew it was only a matter of time that the same malware authors would turn mobile. I am afraid those days are upon us. How could I ever forget such an identifiable logo:
“Android Security Suite Premium”… yeah, right! This spy which is being called Android.FakeSecSuit retrieves incoming sms messages, extracts the phone number and message, and then sends the stolen info off:
As you can see in the GET command from the PCAP, highlighted in blue is the phone number and message I sent to my test phone now being sent off to a site.
Now that the developers of the popular FakeAV malware have entered into the mobile world expect to to see a lot more variations of this… and if they follow the same pattern as they did in the PC world, I mean A LOT! We are seeing it in Torrents and/or alternative markets. Remember, when downloading Android apps choose them wisely and download from a trusted source. Check reviews, research the developer and verify permissions requested before downloading. And of course, scan with Webroot SecureAnywhere Mobile.
