Tag Archives: premium sms

Can my mobile phone be attacked by malware?

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Mobile malware is a growing threat. Banking, shopping, email. We do things on our phones that used to only be done on our desktop PC. Hackers know valuable data is stored on people’s phones, and they increasingly find new ways to attack mobile users. The most common mobile threats are adware packaged as fun gaming […]

Can my mobile phone be attacked by malware?

      No Comments on Can my mobile phone be attacked by malware?

Mobile malware is a growing threat.

Banking, shopping, email. We do things on our phones that used to only be done on our desktop PC. Hackers know valuable data is stored on people’s phones, and they increasingly find new ways to attack mobile users.

smartphones These devices have information on them that is valuable to hackers

The most common mobile threats are adware packaged as fun gaming apps that provide little value and spams users with ads. SMS attacks are malware which sends unauthorized premium SMS or makes premium-service phone calls. This results in a large monthly bill for the user and a significant source of revenue for cybercrooks.

The most aggressive malware is mobile ransomware. Simplocker was the first Android ransomware to encrypt user files, and now there are thousands of variations that make it nearly impossible to recover the encrypted data on a smartphone.

Privacy is an issue with vulnerabilities such as Certifi-gate and Stagefright, both of which can be exploited to spy on users. Certifi-gate put approximately 50 percent of Android users at risk, and Stagefright made nearly 1 billion Android devices vulnerable to spyware.

Avast protects mobile devices from malware

Avast Mobile Security for Android scans mobile devices and secures them against infected files, phishing, malware, and spyware. The app provides people with the most advanced mobile malware protection available, now even faster with Avast’s leading cloud scanning engine. Install Avast Mobile Security for free!

Android malware Fobus now targeting users in the U.S., Germany and Spain

Mid January we informed you of a data-stealing piece of Android malware called Fobus. Back then Fobus mainly targeted our users in Eastern Europe and Russia. Now, Fobus is also targeting our users in the USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and other countries around the world. Fobus can cost its unaware victims a lot of money, because it sends […]

Angry Android hacker hides Xbot malware in popular application icons

Avast makes malware authors really mad because we detect and block their money-making apps. In the past few weeks, the Avast Mobile Security analysts have been focusing on Android malware which targets users in Russia and Eastern Europe. One of the families that caught our interest was the Xbot malware. The name Xbot comes from […]

Fobus, the sneaky little thief that could

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One small Android application shows lots of determination and persistence. Too bad it’s evil.   The year 2014 was significant with a huge rise in mobile malware. One of the families impacting our users was malware Fobus, also known as Podec. This malware poses as a more or less useful application, but for sure it […]