Android surveillanceware operators jump on the coronavirus fear bandwagon

Researchers have uncovered a mobile surveillance campaign that has used more than 30 malicious Android apps to spy on targets over the past 11 months. Two of the most recent samples are exploiting the coronavirus by hiding off-the-shelf surveillanceware inside apps that promise to provide information about the ongoing pandemic.

One of the apps, “corona live 1.1,” is a trojanized version of “corona live,” a legitimate app that provides an interface to data found on tracker from Johns Hopkins University. Buried inside the spoofed app is a sample of SpyMax, a commercially available piece of surveillanceware that gives attackers real-time control of infected devices.

A second app used in the same campaign is called “Crona.” The campaign, which has been active since April 2019 at the latest, was discovered by researchers from mobile-security provider Lookout.

Source: Android surveillanceware operators jump on the coronavirus fear bandwagon | Ars Technica