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Are your apps Stealing your Bank Details?

Are your apps Stealing your Bank Details?
Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

  • Updated:

A new malware, detected by MalwareBytes, uses a legitimate multimedia freeware program called FFmpeg to grab screenshots and even full video of a user’s personal computer. It can monitor your device usage and recognize when you’re visiting the site of a financial institution. The danger here is clear with the malicious code then able to monitor your financial transactions and learn how to bypass you’re your authorization.

Malware you don’t even know is there

This is a new example of a wave of malware that were first detected in 2015. This earlier wave of malware used effective apps to hide malicious code.

One example was an app called Flashlight LED Widget, which installed a fully functioning torch application onto the users’ phones along with malicious code that gave hackers control of the victims phone. It could display fake screens and even false notifications, which would enable the hackers to bypass 2-step verification.

Are your apps Spying on You?

Another example of malware that used legitimate apps to gain a foothold on a user’s device was JSocket. Theoretically, malwares like JSocket could gain access to a user’s device via a legitimate app like Angry Birds and the user would only see the Angry Birds. Another example came hidden in app called Good Weather.

This recent Malware differs to the wave from 2015 because rather than simply hiding in the legitimate app the modern version actually uses the apps capabilities to help it serves its purposes. A freeware multimedia app is the perfect tool for somebody wanting to get screenshots and even video of somebody entering their security details into a banking website.

So what are we supposed to do about these commonly evolving threats? Well, all of these apps were on the Google Play store but the malicious code was detected and the apps were removed within a few days. This quick response should not breed complacency, however. Even with just a small window of operability, each of the apps infected thousands of users.

Vigilance is the key

The threats may evolve but they still rely on us letting our guard down and leaving ourselves vulnerable. There are a number of steps that we can take to protect ourselves and, at Softonic, we’ve explored them before. Whether you want to protect your PC or your smartphone there are many steps that you can take to ensure that malware doesn’t take control of your device and you’ll be able to read them all by clicking on the links below.

THIS ONE FILE WILL MAKE YOU SAFE FROM RANSOMWARE ATTACKS

7 TIPS TO EASILY FIGHT THE RANSOMWARE THREAT

RANSOMWARE: THE GROWING GLOBAL THREAT THAT COULD COST YOU BIG

CYBERSECURITY: IF YOU’RE A WINDOWS USER, UPDATE NOW

5 MISTAKES THAT PUT YOUR INTERNET SECURITY AT RISK

Via: security intelligence, we live securtiy 2, zd net and malware bytes

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney is a news reporter for Softonic, keeping readers up to date on everything affecting their favorite apps and programs. His beat includes social media apps and sites like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. Patrick also covers antivirus and security issues, web browsers, the full Google suite of apps and programs, and operating systems like Windows, iOS, and Android.

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