Specialists at Kaspersky Lab warned of an outbreak of a new type of malware that may be implanted in modern Android phones during the manufacturing process.
According to estimates by the company’s experts, this new malicious software, called “Keenadu,” was found in more than thirteen thousand smartphones around the world. Nine thousand of these phones were monitored in Russia, in addition to other phones sold in Japan, Brazil, and the Netherlands. As a result, consumers may be at risk of acquiring a new device that already contains this virus.
Below are the most prominent risks posed by the “Keenadu” virus:
Manipulating the number of visits to advertising links, and displaying banner ads that fill the screen.
Providing third parties with the full ability to control the smartphone remotely.
Infecting applications on the phone and installing malicious apk files.
Granting any application unauthorized powers (such as access to the camera, microphone, geographical location, etc.).
Seize personal data, including photos, videos, documents, passwords, location history, banking data, and text messages.
Kaspersky Lab experts also drew attention to the fact that the virus is also capable of tracking search data conducted through the Google Chrome browser on phones and sending it to third parties.
Experts believe that the virus reached smartphones through untrustworthy manufacturing companies at one of the stages of the hardware components supply chain. They stressed that users cannot currently be sure that their devices are free of this software upon purchase, and that the only solution to this problem lies in the hands of the manufacturers themselves, by imposing strict control on all stages of production. (Russia Today)
