For those that go where no man has gone before, internet wise, for free application and games, may want to reconsider. It seems that a version of Rovio’s newest hit, Angry Birds: Space, is laced with malware and found floating (no pun intended) around. If the copy of Angry Birds: Space currently installed in your device came from anywhere but Google Play, you may be putting yourself at risk.
Graham Clueley, an analyst of SophosLabs, claims that his group discovered has already spread through a number of “unofficial Android app stores”. These illegal app stores may be forums that hosts a number of cracked apks.
Upon installation, “The Trojan horse, which Sophos detects as Andr/KongFu-L, appears to be a fully-functional version of the popular smartphone game, but uses the GingerBreak exploit to gain root access to the device, and install malicious code.” Once installed, the Trojan continues to download further malware to your device. In short, your device may very well be part of a botnet. Remotely controlled by hacker. Personal information, such as phone numbers and email address are now available for these groups to exploit.
Of course this isn’t an isolated case. Malware infused apps have been spreading across the interwebs. As Clueley states:
“It feels like we have to keep reminding Android users to be on their guard against malware risks, and to be very careful – especially when downloading applications from unofficial Android markets.”
Even though news of this new Trojan is a few days old, due to the popularity of the Angry Birds name, we just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of this. The only way to combat these are by purchasing apps through the Google Play store or other large brand name markets like Amazon and to make sure you are downloading your games and applications for the actual developers and not some fake account someone has set up.
Source: NakedSecurity.SoPhos Via: PCMag
