25 million Android users hit with Agent Smith malware
Android smartphones are victims of malware. Once again, some researchers have found a new malware. This malware replaces the Android application with its code. This does not happen completely, but rather to some extent it is replaced. According to the report, 25 million Android smartphones worldwide are affected by this malware called Agent Smith.
In India, Android devices are effected by it the most. The report says that about 1.5 million Android devices in India are affected by this malware. Agent Smith malware was detected by Security firm Checkpoint. This malware replaces the applications in the smartphone with dangerous version of apps by exploiting the vulnerabilities of the Android operating system.
The scary thing is that it is done without permission of the user. Jonathan Schimonovich, the mobile-thread detection research head of Check Point, has said, ‘This malware gets secretly attacks user-installed apps and that makes it difficult for Android users to find it’
This Agent Smith shows advertisements with fraud to the users with broad access to malware devices so that the attackers can benefit from it. However this malware can be used for a larger purpose than this. According to the report, this malware can steal banking credentials. CopyCat malware, also works the same way.
According to the report, Agent Smith was first downloaded from a third-party app store 9Apps and targeted Hindi, Arabic, Russian and Indonesian users.
Checkpoint security firm says that Indians are primary victim of Agent Smith malware. However, it has an effect in other countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. Apart from this, malware also targets the Android device of America, Australia and the UK. The security firm has made it clear that the company has worked closely with Google and now there is no such dangerous app on the Play Store.
Since these malware is spread through third-party app stores, you should exercise caution and avoid downloading apps from any third-party app store.
