{"id":21087,"date":"2018-02-08T09:14:36","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T14:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?p=21087"},"modified":"2019-11-15T06:41:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T11:41:39","slug":"porn-related-android-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/porn-related-android-threats\/21087\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile malware masked as porn apps"},"content":{"rendered":"

A top safety tip for Android users is to install apps only from the official store<\/a>. However, there are times when this advice is difficult or even impossible to heed. For example, when it comes to porn, such content is (unsurprisingly) barred from Google Play. Aficionados have to seek out third-party sites for that \u2014 and, of course, those sites are populated by scammers.<\/p>\n

Our researchers studied various \u201c18+\u201d mobile threats. Their detailed report is available here<\/a>; this article presents a summary of the most salient points.<\/p>\n

The wrong kind of porn<\/h2>\n

Cybercriminals are well-armed when it comes to targeting fans of adult content. They disguise malware as XXX collections and special porn players, add malicious features to official apps from known porn sites, and even set up their own porn portals to spread their dangerous wares. They often promote their creations by hacking or malvertising on legal porn sites, as in the case of PornHub last fall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Android-based malware that exploits this hot topic has become incredibly popular: In the past year a quarter of all attacks on mobile devices came from porn-related malware. Interestingly, desktop computers are attacked by such malware far less often \u2014 criminals are following porn<\/a> into the mobile space.
\n<\/p>\n

Mom told you so<\/h3>\n

The consequences of porn malware can be nasty or very nasty.<\/p>\n

If the victim is \u201clucky,\u201d they will get hit by an ad clicker. These pests account for about half of all attacks. Victim\u2019s smartphone battery indicator will start dropping noticeably, and the device will gobble up gigabytes of mobile Internet traffic (during the study, one piece of malware \u201cclicked\u201d on 100 megabytes\u2019 worth of ads just in several hours). WAP and SMS hacks are in roughly the same weight category: Users are unwittingly signed up for paid services or content, with SMS confirmations deleted for good measure, or calls are made to paid numbers.<\/p>\n

Losing money from a mobile account is actually getting off relatively unscathed \u2014 far worse beasts lurk in the Android malware zoo, and they collectively account for the other half of porn-related attacks. For example, a Trojan banker<\/a> disguised as an alluring app can steal your login and password and clean out your bank account, and Trojan ransomware will block your device and demand a ransom.<\/p>\n

Cybercriminals count on the fact that victims understandably prefer to keep quiet about how they encountered such Trojans. To intensify the effect, an on-screen message might appear about illegal content supposedly detected on the device \u2014 for example, child pornography.<\/p>\n

Loapi \u2014 this Trojan is hot!<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n