Android attacked by Malware hidden in Game

♥ Thu Dec 27, 2012 5:34 pm

Its very rare in internet world to listen about such news that Android Malware detected but recently a chinese hacker again tries to hack android, and this time, he used a game named "The Roar of the Pharaoh". The bug was spotted by the security team(penetration testing) from Sophos, well known security firm. The game does not show any security or permission issues while user installs it, so Android user believes that it is a reliable and non-malicious software and will not harm the system. So friends please avoid android games and applications from unknown publishers as it may result into critical information leak and sometimes into OS crash.

Android attacked by Malware hidden in Game Android-malware

Android attacked by Malware hidden in Game Android-malware

But, actually what the game does is that it collects all the sensitive and personal information from the device(like the normal Trojans does) and sends it to the author via an SMS with premium rates, without taking the user's permission(means in the background). The Trojan sends information like the phonebook entries, SMSs, IMEI number, phone number, OS version etc. Though no cases illegal usage of the users information have been reported yet but researchers believe that more damage can be done using this bug.

According to the vendor, the malware runs as a service called "GameUpdaterService", which sounds like a legitimate name for an application and user thinks that some game is updating, but its just another indication of the social engineering element of the campaign which makes it look like reliable application, next to the actual brand-jacking of a legitimate game’s name.

The application has been detected as an Stinter-A, the mobile phone companies process the money to the authors before the application user gets the bills.Michael Sutton, vice president of security research at cloud-based security provider Zscaler, said "the fake "The Roar of the Pharaoh" app for Android reflects the shift of malware authors to target the Android platform, whether smartphones or tablets. Fake game apps that are really Trojans are increasing and "this is a typical scam for Android now," he added.

The interests of the hackers has now shifted towards the Android phones from computers. The android officials have not spoken anything much about this application, but have warned its users to beware of such malicious applications.

The authors have not been caught yet, and the Chinese Security is still working to put them behind the bars.

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