Agent Smith malware could hijack banking,shopping credentials

Agent Smith malware has infected above 15 million smartphones in India, which has also expected to touch the figure to 25 million smartphone devices all across the world.

Malicious Software ‘Agent Smith’ Detected by Check Point Research has helped identify this malware and the extensive harm that it has caused. The malware has been aptly named ‘Agent Smith and comes under the clever guise of a Google-related application.

 
The press note from Check Point Research says, the potential and capacity of the app and has remarked that the app was “as malicious as they come.‘Agent Smith’ does not steal data from the users’ device, rather hacks apps and takes wrong credit for ads displayed or makes more ads pop-up. The profit from these ads went into the pocket of the malware operator.

The malware concealed itself in the apps available on the 9Apps platform, or appear under a name that would fool users like ‘Google Updater.’ once downloaded, the app would begin replacing code. The Check Point Research specifies, Disguised as a Google-related application, the malware exploits known Android vulnerabilities and automatically replaces installed apps with malicious versions without users’ knowledge or interaction.”

The malware currently uses its broad access to the devices' resources to show fraudulent ads for financial gain, but could easily be used for far more intrusive and harmful purposes such as banking credential theft and eavesdropping. 

About 300,000 devices were infected in the US. but the same security flaws could be used to hijack banking, shopping and other sensitive apps.The apps, which have been removed from the Google Play store, had been downloaded over 10 million times. The apps that the malware has originally downloaded from the third party app store through 9Apps store and targeted mostly Hindi, Arabic, Russian, Indonesian speaking users. The Color Phone Flash – Call Screen Theme, Photo Projector, Rabbit Temple, Kiss Game : Touch Her Heart, and Girl Cloth XRay Scan Simulator.

The researchers also warned users to download apps from legal and official app downloading platforms. Advised Keep a close eye speed at which the battery of your smartphone discharges. Such malware often takes up a lot of your battery.If there is any app that is continuously displaying unnecessary pop-ups on your phone, it would be wise to uninstall the same.

With this malware attack, NPCI  has send advisory to all the banks in the country.