McAfee releases new Mobile Threat Report that predicts 2020 to be year of mobile sneak attacks

guest · Mar 4, 2020

McAfee releases new Mobile Threat Report that predicts 2020 to be year of mobile sneak attacks
March 4, 2020
https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...e-Protects-Matters-Consumers-2020-Year-Mobile

Today McAfee released its Mobile Threat Report 2020, which found that hackers are using hidden mobile apps, third-party login and counterfeit gaming videos to target consumers.
Last year, hackers targeted consumers with a wide variety of methods, from backdoors to mining cryptocurrencies. Based on new research, McAfee has uncovered that hackers have expanded the ways of hiding their attacks, making them increasingly difficult to identify and remove, which makes it seem like 2020 will be the year of mobile sneak attacks.

McAfee found that hidden apps are the most active mobile threat facing consumers, generating nearly 50% of all malicious activities in 2019— a 30% increase from 2018.
Hidden apps take advantage of unsuspecting consumers in multiple ways, including taking advantage of consumers using third-party login services or serving unwanted ads.
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The McAfee Mobile Threat Report 2020 highlights the following mobile trends:

Hackers use gaming popularity to spoof consumers

New mobile malware uses third-party sign-on to cheat app ranking systems

Unique approach to steal sensitive data through legitimate transit app

“There exists a growing trend for many apps to remain hidden, stealing precious resources and important data from the device that acts as the remote control to consumers digital world,” said Raj Samani, McAfee Fellow and Chief Scientist.
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McAfee Mobile Threat Report Q1, 2020 (PDF - 2.91 MB): https://www.mcafee.com/content/dam/consumer/en-us/docs/2020-Mobile-Threat-Report.pdf

guest · Mar 4, 2020

The mobile threats you can’t even see
March 4, 2020
https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/consumer/mobile-and-iot-security/the-mobile-threats-you-cant-even-see/

Unfortunately, as consumers get better at protecting themselves, and as companies like McAfee get better at detecting threats, criminals will change tactics and find new ways to attack people online.

Today, there is a whole new arena for criminals to explore, and it’s growing rapidly. According to the GSMA, there are now more than 5bn people with mobile phone service subscriptions globally, while a recent report has predicted that by 2030 the average person will own fifteen different connected devices.
A moving target
In McAfee’s latest Mobile Threat Report, we show some of the emerging tactics being used to turn consumer connectivity into criminal profit – and potentially damage users in the process. Rather guessing or compromising a user’s personal details and passwords, these new threats use sophisticated awareness of how people use their phones in order to manipulate them.
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For example, one malware family we found, called LeifAccess or Shopper, shows users scary-sounding but non-specific warning messages, such as ‘security error should be dealt with immediately’, in order to trick users into giving it additional permissions on the phone.
In a similar trend, we found an increase in HiddenAds malware being distributed outside of app stores. These apps are shared in places like the gaming chat app Discord and in links under YouTube videos, pretending to be free versions of legitimate apps. Once installed, these apps instead hide themselves in the background and request adverts to generate revenue for their creators.
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Android/LeifAccess.A is the Silent Fake Reviewer Trojan

The McAfee Mobile Research team has identified an Android malware family dubbed Android/LeifAccess.A that has been active since May 2019. This trojan was discovered globally with localized versions but has a much higher prevalence in the USA and Brazil. As part of the payload, this trojan can abuse OAuth leveraging accessibility services to automatically create accounts in the name of a victim’s legitimate email in multiple third-party apps.
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Multi-tricks HiddenAds Malware

Thousands of HiddenAds Trojan Apps Masquerade as Google Play Apps
The McAfee mobile research team has recently discovered a new variant of the HiddenAds Trojan. HiddenAds Trojan is an adware app used to display advertising and collect user data for marketing. The goal of such apps is to generate revenue by redirecting users to advertisements. There are usually two way to make money with adware; the display of advertising to a user’s computer and a per-click payment made if a user clicks on the ad.
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guest · Jul 30, 2022

Facebook ads push Android adware with 7 million installs on Google Play
July 30, 2022

Several adware apps promoted aggressively on Facebook as system cleaners and optimizers for Android devices are counting millions of installations on Google Play store.

The apps lack all of the promised functionality and push advertisements while trying to last as long as possible on the device.
To evade deletion, the apps hide on the victim's device by constantly changing icons and names, masquerading as Settings or the Play Store itself.
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The adware apps abuse the Contact Provider Android component, which enables them to transfer data between the device and online services.

Researchers at McAfee discovered the adware apps. They note that users don't have to launch them after installation to see the ads because the adware initiates itself automatically without any interaction.
Millions of downloads
As McAfee comments in the report, users are convinced to trust the adware apps because they see a Play Store link on Facebook, leaving little margin for doubt.
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The adware apps are no longer available on the Play Store. However, users that installed them have to remove them manually from the device.

System cleaners and optimizers are popular software categories despite the low benefits they provide. Cybercriminals know that a large number of users would try such solutions to prolong the life of their devices and often guise malicious apps as such.
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McAfee: New HiddenAds malware affects 1M+ users and hides on the Google Play Store

McAfee’s Mobile Research Team has identified new malware on the Google Play Store. Most of them are disguising themselves as cleaner apps that delete junk files or help optimize their batteries for device management. However, this malware hides and continuously show advertisements to victims. In addition, they run malicious services automatically upon installation without executing the app.
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guest · Aug 19, 2022

Researchers Find 35 Adware Apps on Google Play
August 18, 2022

Security experts have repeated warnings about malicious applications hiding on official mobile app stores after finding dozens of them on Google Play.

Bitdefender said it identified 35 in total by using behavioral analysis technology to scan the marketplace. They totaled over two million downloads.
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The apps perform various malicious activities to achieve persistence on the user’s device and bombard them with advertising, but could also be a conduit for malware, Bitdefender warned.

“Many legitimate apps offer ads to their users, but these ones show ads through their own framework, which means they can also serve other types of malware to their victims,” it said.
“Most of the time, users can choose to delete the application if they don't like it. But these new malicious apps trick victims into installing them, only to change their name and icons and even take some extra steps to conceal their presence on the device. Users can still delete them at will, but the developers make it more difficult to find them on the affected devices.”
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Immediately after downloading, it apparently changes its label from “GPS Location Maps” to “Settings,” and also changes its icon, making it more difficult for users to find and uninstall it.
Then developer also used heavily obfuscated code and encryption to make reverse engineering more challenging for researchers, Bitdefender claimed.

Other techniques observed by the researchers to hide the adware include ensuring the apps don't show in the list of those most recently used on Android. Some apps also request permission to bypass the battery optimization feature so they don’t automatically get shut down by the OS, the report noted.
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“Just because we download an app from the official store doesn't mean it will be safe.”
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Bitdefender: Real-Time Behavior-Based Detection on Android Reveals Dozens of Malicious Apps on Google Play Store

While the platform's security checks have improved through the years, our research still uncovers malicious apps that use a vast array of tricks to bypass these checks.
This is the case of a new malware campaign on the Google Play Store where numerous apps use false pretexts to lure victims into installing them, only to change their name and aggressively serve ads afterward.
Attack at a glance

Bitdefender has identified 35 applications that have snuck into the Play Store, totaling over two million downloads if we consider the available public data.

These apps hide their presence on the device by renaming themselves and changing their icon, then start serving aggressive ads

To confuse the user and conceal their presence, the applications are changing their name and icon after installation

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