Malware Researcher - McAfee Labs
In recent years one of the most prevalent malware threats for PCs (and lately Mac users) is fake-antivirus software, which pretends to be a legitimate security program. Its real purpose is to charge victims a fee to remove a nonexistent threat. The same threat has now been ported to mobile devices. In some cases we Read more…
Tags: Android, fake anti-virus software, fake-av, Google Play, Mobile, pup
Recently we discovered a new Android Trojan in the official Google Play market that displays a video downloaded from the Internet–but only if some sensitive information is previously sent to a remote server. The malicious applications are designed for Japanese users and display “trailers” of upcoming video games for Android. Here’s one example: Or anime/adult Read more…
Tags: Android, DougaLeaker, Google Play, Japan, malware
Based on the Android malware that we’ve seen so far, one of the principal motivations to develop and spread malware on Android is to gain financial profit. We often see deceptive applications that send SMS messages to premium-rate numbers without the user’s consent or that run man-in-the-middle attacks to forward SMS messages to an attacker Read more…
Tags: Android Malware, Android/FakeToken, banking fraud, SpyEye, zeus
[March 1: See update at end] Google Code is a well-known platform that provides a collaborative environment for developers working on open source projects. It’s also a target for malware developers. Contrary to what you may think, this is not the first time that Google Code has been used to spread or store malware. (You Read more…
Tags: Android, Android/FakeUpdates, downloader, fake updates, google code, malware, pup
Hacktivism has become very popular in recent years; one of its leading agents is the online community Anonymous. Hacktivist groups use digital tools to perform denial of service (DoS) attacks for pursue political ends or to protest against controversial laws in countries around the world. One of the most common tools they use Low Orbit Read more…
Tags: Android, Anonymous Group, DoS, Hacktivism, pup
Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) are often legitimate software that pose a risk to users’ privacy or systems. A reasonably secure–or privacy-minded–user may want to be informed of the presence of certain PUPs and in some cases remove them. One very common type of PUP is adware, which exists to make revenue through advertising. Some adware Read more…
Malware is on the rise. At the beginning of 2008, our malware collection had 10 million samples. Today we have already surpassed 70 million. Most of the malicious samples are Trojans (backdoors, downloaders, fake alerts), but there are also a lot of viruses, worms, and bots that in a short time can infect many computers Read more…
SpyEye and Zeus are probably the most prevalent and active Trojan “banker” families seen in the wild. (Bankers steal bank passwords and other financial data.) At the beginning of the year there was a rumor about the “merger” of both toolkits into a new generation of banking Trojan. It is not clear yet whether leaked Zeus Read more…
Tags: Android, malware, Mobile, smartphones, SpyEye, trojan banker
Zeus, also known as ZBot, is one of best-known malware in the industry. The main purpose of this malware is to steal banking credentials, allowing attackers to commit electronic fraud. Until 2010, Zeus existed only for personal computers since this platform was (and still is) the principal medium for electronic transactions. However, due to the Read more…
Tags: Android, malware, smartphones, Spyware, zeus
Most of today’s malware works on Windows and its apps, because it can affect a lot of people around the world. However, other platforms are becoming more popular every day and attracting bad guys who are starting to create malicious code for other systems. (For a few examples, see BlackHoleRAT, HellRaiser RAT, and a fake-alert Read more…
Posts by Carlos Castillo