ANDROID owners have been warned of a vicious attack that’s capable of locking them out of their phone and deleting precious photos.
The latest worrying ruse deployed by cyber crooks is specifically targeting people with older handsets, according to experts.
These devices tend to no longer receive important security updates that would normally patch vulnerabilities and bugs.
The majority of victims had Samsung phones – the biggest Android smartphone manufacturer – followed closely by Xiaomi, Vivo, and Huawei, according to Check Point.
It leverages deceptive tactics to manipulate user trust and exploit their interactions
Check Point
Some victims of the attack receive an ominous ransom note from fraudsters telling them to “message me on Telegram to solve this problem”.
Criminals make their way into people’s phones by duping them into installing dubious apps that rip off well known names.
These range from Instagram and WhatsApp, to shopping platforms and antivirus apps, which are downloaded on the internet instead of via Google Play where it’s safer.
“Depending on the attacker’s modifications, the malware may request permissions for Notifications or Device Admin rights or stealthily seek minimal sensitive permissions (such as SMS, Call Logs, and Contacts) in its quest to remain undetected,” experts warned.
“Regardless, the malware commences its operations in the background immediately upon activation.”
This allows them to carry out a number of merciless tasks, such as scanning your texts and relaying sensitive information back to them.
But in the worst case scenario they could lock your screen rendering your device unusable or delete files such as photos.
The ruthless scheme, dubbed Rafel RAT, has been detected in 120 countries.
Most victims were traced to the United States, China, and Indonesia, but others were found in Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy and Germany among others.
“More than 87% of the affected victims are running Android versions that are no longer supported and, consequently, not receiving security fixes,” Check Point said.
“This malware was developed to participate in phishing campaigns.
“It leverages deceptive tactics to manipulate user trust and exploit their interactions.”
Advice from Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Reporter at The Sun
The threat underscores the importance of keeping your smartphone up-to-date.
If you’re using an older device that no longer receives software updates then you might want to consider upgrading to something newer to avoid falling victim.
The other key take away is to avoid downloading apps that don’t come from official app stores.
Downloading and installing apps from the internet instead of Google Play is very risky as it won’t have gone through the same vetting processes.
No matter where you download an app, always check the permissions it seeks at the beginning too.
For example, if a calculator app is asking for permission to access your texts this should raise some serious alarm bells, as a calculator app shouldn’t need that sort of information to function.
Also, it’s pointless paying ransoms – criminals will just keep demanding more each time you cough up.
