Israel-based Cyber Security Firm Check Point Software Technologies has discovered in its latest research that a malware called CopyCat has succeeded in infecting more than 14 million Google Android Smart Phones and managed to rake in millions through fraudulent advertising and app installations.
Check Point discovered that CopyCat developers succeeded in spreading the malware during April and May 2016 and managed to garner around $1.5 million in the span of just two months.
Google which quashed the media reports published a year ago has now decided to admit the spread of the said malware on the smart phones and tablets operating on Android Operating System.
But the internet juggernaut has smartly played the blame game and claimed that the infection spread happened through 3rd party app stores and phishing attacks, rather than through the official play store.
Daniel Padon was the researcher from Check Point who found the infection first in March this year. But by the time he managed to alert the security teams of Google, they have taken care much of the problem by then.
Google estimates that fewer than 50,000 devices are still affected by the malware. But the search giant claims that since all these devices are running on old Android operating systems, it is almost impossible to update these devices with the latest security patches.
In another instance, researchers from Trend Micro have uncovered a new variant of ransomware called SLocker Android which infects Android phones. Researchers from the security firm report that
SLocker has an operating interface similar to that of WannaCry ransomware. And could be tagged as one of the oldest Android screen locker and file encrypting ransomware’s which have been around.
SLocker Android ransomware locks the phone of the victim by displaying an image which impersonates various law enforcement agencies like the FBI and Cyber Police.
Hackers also tweaked the said ransomware to develop another malware called Flocker which has the ability to lock down the Android Powered Smart Televisions.
Therefore, all those who are using Android based devices, you better be careful about the fast spreading CopyCat and SLocker Android malware.
