New malware for Android steals data from Facebook or WhatsApp

New malware for Android steals data from Facebook or WhatsApp

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Security has become a major concern for users, not just computers, but also mobile phones. Do not forget that ransomware WannaCry also attacked Android phones, and experts warn that you may have some virus on your mobile and you do not know yet.

Now, a team of computer security researchers from the company Palo Alto Networks has launched a new alert: a new malware for Android has been identified that has the ability to steal data from more than 40 applications, including Facebook or WhatsApp, as well Such as the positioning of devices. The virus has been called SpyDealer and it is an Android Trojan that could be operating since October 2015.

According to the report of these researchers, they have found 1,046 different samples of this Trojan. Malware, although still in development, stands out for being very powerful and having many malicious functions. On the one hand, it can steal data from more than 40 apps installed on the terminal, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, browsers, mail apps, etc. Therefore, you can obtain confidential information from victims without their knowledge.

To perform these actions, SpyDealer obtains administrator permissions to keep the device compromised and employs Android accessibility services for malicious purposes. It is also capable of clandestine screenshots, record phone calls and micro sounds, monitor the location or even remotely control the terminal through UDP, TCP and SMS channels.

From Palo Alto Networks they point out that fortunately the malware has not been distributed through Google Play, and believe that it will be spreading through compromised wireless networks. The team has notified the Mountain View company of the problem, which has already created protections against SpyDealer through Google Play Protect.

“Cyber criminals are becoming more industrialized and more organized,” Derk Fischer, a partner with PwC in Germany who deals in the delivery of cyber security assessment and consulting services, said in a statement. “What we’re seeing is the emergence of a new kind of ‘industry sector’ that thrives on the complex connectivity that characterizes the Internet.”

“There shouldn’t be any doubt in anybody’s mind. This was not something that was done casually, this was not something that was done by chance, this was not a target that was selected purely arbitrarily,” Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency and commander of United States Cyber Command, said at a postelection conference, according to The New York Times. “This was a conscious effort by a nation-state to attempt to achieve a specific effect.”

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I handle much of news coverage for tech stocks, and occasionally cover companies in different sectors. In the past, I've written for other financial sites and published independent investment research, primarily on tech companies. I have a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University. I'm based out of San Diego, but grew up in Southern New Jersey. I play basketball and tennis in my spare time, am a long-time (and long-suffering) fan of Philadelphia's sports teams, and alternate daily between using an iPad Air, a Galaxy Note 3, and one or two Windows PCs.

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