Malware in Phony ‘Pokemon Go’ Application

The extremely liked game 'Pokemon Go' played on smart-phone that proved to be a worldwide phenomenon and at such a rapid pace that it has undoubtedly caught the interest of cyber-criminals as well.

During July the time Pokemon Go was introduced to everyone, the game was accessible within just a small set of countries, something which led many in other countries become desperately desirable for playing the game so they resorted to 3rd-party download websites. Unfortunately, a few downloads of the game from such intermediate sites contained malicious code which let hackers gain hold over victims' mobile-phones.

Currently, with the smash hit boosted smart-phone game from Niantic accessible globally, cyber-criminals like hackers are producing guide applications that entice unwitting Pokemon trainers so they would contaminate their own mobile-phones.

And as per major anti-virus company Kaspersky Lab, while highlighting the problem elaborates that there's Trojan hidden inside the application and this Trojan is pretty advanced in its destructive activities thereby has already infected 6,000-or-more devices. In.techradar.com posted this, September 15, 2016.

The Trojan delays its activation, explains Kaspersky. It stays on the device till the mobile-owner loads/unloads some other application after which it checks whether the device is a real else some virtual machine. Suppose, the Trojan finds a real device then it'll wait another 2-hrs prior to beginning its malicious operations.

A detailed examination of the fake Pokemon Go application shows that a malevolent code inside it pulls down rooting malware that acquires admission into primary operating system of Android phones. Kaspersky's security program identifies the Trojan to be HEUR:Trojan.AndroidOS.Ztorg.ad which has one string exhibiting advertisements while enables hacking criminals gain root access of Android's operating system.

Meanwhile as the masters of "Guide for Pokemon Go" app spread it to earn ad revenue, Kaspersky cautions that the Trojan disguised in it can rather effortlessly be converted into spying software else ransomware since it has the aforementioned rooting ability.

Thus, it's advisable that Android mobile-owners unmistakably check their applications while also verify if 'Guide for Pokemon Go' has gotten installed on their devices. Incase so then they should uninstall as well as delete it at the earliest.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/22/2016