Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cybersecurity
    • Development
    • Mobile

    Fake Kaspersky Antivirus Scanner Detected on Mobile Devices

    By
    Fahmida Y. Rashid
    -
    April 28, 2011
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      New fake antivirus scareware pop up with amazing regularity, but some researchers encountered an intriguing variant that indicates scammers may begin targeting mobile platforms.

      A rogue antivirus masquerading as a Kaspersky Lab antivirus scanner has been spotted on mobile devices, Dinesh Venkatesan, an anti-malware researcher, posted on the CA Security Advisor Research Blog on April 27. The current scam is designed to trick Russian-speaking users into paying for bogus mobile protection.

      The “exponential growth” of the smartphone market means these kinds of threats will be “growing proportionately,” Venkatesan wrote.

      The fake antivirus appears to be spreading using social engineering tactics, according to Venkatesan. Once launched on the device, it presented a “friendly UI” and asks the user whether it should scan the phone for viruses. After running the scan, it informs the user that two threats have been detected.

      When the user tried to remove the infection, they were shown a bogus error code “07931020” and a message explaining that the software encountered an error when trying to remove the malware.

      “The sample is supposedly spread by some social engineering tricks where users would have been provided with support numbers/email id to contact to resolve those error codes,” Venkatesan said.

      Contacting that support number or address is presumably when the users are tricked into paying for an upgrade to remove the alleged infection. Venkatesan didn’t have that information when analyzing the malware sample and couldn’t complete the analysis to determine how the malware authors were monetizing the scam.

      The app is not very sophisticated at the moment, suggesting it was an early stage experiment for the app developer. On a mobile platform, SMS-based micro payments seem to be the most logical way to trick money out of the victims. The rogue scanner has hardcoded the malware names as it always “found” the same “Trojan moby” and “RebBrowser” in two locations that are clearly from the Windows file system. While it is “scanning” the files, it played an audio file in the background of a crashing sound just before displaying the error message.

      Users have become the primary target for attackers with clever social engineering tricks designed to trick them into clicking links and running software. “The adversary targets the user because they know that regardless of all the patches applied to technology, one cannot apply a patch to Layer 8-the human brain,” Anup Ghosh, chief research scientist at Invincea, told eWEEK.

      Mobile users need to be on the alert against such social engineering tricks and they should also be using a legitimate mobile security product, Venkatesan said. Users should “exercise basic security principles” while surfing and be skeptical of free downloads, according to Venkatesan. Instead of downloading pirated or free versions of software from unofficial app markets, users should stick with official security products available on the Android Market.

      Malware developers are increasingly developing threats that are localized for a specific region, Korean security vendor AhnLab warned in a recent report. Authors are frequently translating the fake antivirus program’s graphical user interface to the language the operating system is running and demand payment in the local currency to increase the scareware’s success rate, the report found.

      Fahmida Y. Rashid

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×