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A new type of malware has been detected which steals money through mobile phones. The malware called Xafecopy Trojan has been uncovered by cyber security firm Kaspersky. According to the firm almost 40 percent of the target of the Malware hail from India.
The report which the firm has published states: “Kaspersky Lab experts have uncovered a mobile malware targeting the WAP billing payment method, stealing money from victims’ mobile accounts without their knowledge.”
The report further mentions, “Xafecopy hit more than 4,800 users in 47 countries within the space of a month, with 37.5 per cent of the attacks detected and blocked by Kaspersky Lab products targeting India, followed by Russia, Turkey, and Mexico”.
The malware disguises itself as a user-friendly application such as BatteryMaster. And when the user downloads the app considering it as a safe application it loads and installs harmful, malicious codes onto the device. After that when a user activates the app, the malware starts to click on web pages using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) billing. For those who don’t about WAP, it is basically a form of mobile payment that charges costs directly to the user’s mobile phone bill. After this, the malware secretly subscribes the smartphone which you are using to a number of services.
The malware uses some sorts of codes to bypass ‘captcha’ systems. These captcha systems are built and designed to check whether the end user is human or bot.
Read also: Malware called Judy to infect 36.5 million Android phone users
Kaspersky cyber security firm has warned mobile users especially Android smartphone users to be wary while downloading apps from Play store.
Via: TheIndianExpress, Featured Image Source: Cyburg
