Kaspersky Lab found a virus stealing WhatsApp correspondence

[НСК-СБ]

Kaspersky Lab found a virus stealing WhatsApp correspondence

Nikolay Belkin
01/17/2018 10:01

Kaspersky Lab, the Russian manufacturer of antiviruses, has been able to identify perhaps the most functional spyware in the history of the Android platform. Some of its features have never before been encountered by malware researchers.

Kaspersky Lab believes that they discovered Skygofree is a specially developed hacker product sold by an Italian-based IT company. In the latest version (and the product is being developed since the end of 2014), there are 48 different teams that the attack organizer can give out remotely. Five different vulnerabilities make it possible for spyware to work, allowing it to gain root access and bypass Android's built-in protection.

Skygofree can take photos and videos with the smartphone’s cameras, record conversations, “spy” SMS, GPS data, calendar events, and even start recording sound when the smartphone is at the specified location. Moreover, using functions for users with disabilities Skygofree is able to read correspondence in the WhatsApp messenger. The program can also automatically connect an infected device to hacker-controlled Wi-Fi networks.

According to Kaspersky Lab, the malware spreads through fake Internet sites that mimic the pages of Vodafone and other major mobile operators. Users who are taken to the page are invited to establish an “accelerator” of Internet connection, for which it is necessary to allow the installation of programs from unknown sources in the Android security settings. Experts could not establish exactly how users get to such pages, one of the versions is that they can load when the smartphone is connected to a Wi-Fi-controlled hacker network.

Laboratory experts who studied the "malware" found a number of indications of the origin of Skygofree. For example, in the code they found the h3g.co domain, which is registered by the Italian IT company Negg International. Its representatives have not yet commented on this fact. Recall that in 2015, hackers broke into the servers of another Italian IT company, the Hacking Team, as a result of which became known about software tools developed by her for selling for tracking via smartphones and computers.

Kaspersky Lab found a virus stealing correspondence in WhatsApp / Articles / News. Hi-tech

 

[Детектив-Молдова]

Thank!
Interesting article!