Thousands of Android Malware Apps Use Stealthy APKs to Bypass Security

-

 


In a recent study, Zimperium uncovered a concerning trend in Android malware that uses a tricky method to hide itself from antivirus programs. This APK can be installed on Android devices with an OS version above Android 9 Pie (API 28), reducing the possibility of being analyzed. 

How was this made possible

  • According to researchers, it was achieved by using an unsupported decompression method in the APK, which is essentially a zip file.
  • While the technique is not new and was first demonstrated in 2014, security researchers have begun noticing its impact only lately.
  • For instance, Zimperium found over 3,000 APKs in the wild, using this suspicious compression technique. 
  • A rather concerning part is that these APKs were not found on the official Google Play Store, indicating distribution via third-party app stores or sideloading using some social engineering or phishing attack.

Another sneaky tactic emerging lately

  • Just a few days back, Google revealed that hackers are still able to use a technique known as versioning to slip malware onto Android devices while evading the Play Store’s security processes. 
  • In this method, a developer releases an initial version of an app on the Play Store that passes Google's pre-publication checks but is later updated with a malware component.
  • This is achieved by pushing an update from an attacker-controlled server to serve malicious code on the end user device using a method called Dynamic Code Loading (DCL), thus, turning the app into a backdoor.

-L.K

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CISA and ENISA enhance their Cooperation

-
Image
  The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) has signed a Working Arrangement with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the US, in the areas of capacity-building, best practices exchange and boosting situational awareness. Geopolitics have shaped the cyber threat landscape, bringing like-minded partners closer together in the wake of common cyber challenges and advances in digital technologies. Today at the EU-US Cyber Dialogue, ENISA and CISA announced the signing of their Working Arrangement as an important milestone in the overall cooperation between the United States and the European Union in the field of cybersecurity, also following the Joint Statement of European Commissioner Thierry Breton and U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas of January 2023. ENISA’s International Strategy directs the Agency to be selective in engaging with international partners and to limit its overall approach in international cooperation to those are
Read more

The Imperva Content Delivery Network (CDN) to Improve website experience globally

-
Image
Today’s website visitors expect a fast and efficient user experience with no delays or site performance issues. However, high traffic volumes and global reaching websites mean website managers are faced with the challenge of added latency and slow page load times, which can result in lost business. According to WebSiteBuilderExpert.com, 1 in 4 site visitors would abandon a website that takes more than 4 seconds to load. And 46% of site visitors do not revisit poorly performing websites, according to Unbounce.com. A strong Content Delivery Network   (CDN) is critical for website managers and businesses that rely on their websites for success, and here are ten reasons why. Improve your engagement Faster site speed times and more responsive websites bring results in more conversions. As little as a  one-second delay  in page load time can reduce customer satisfaction by 16%. Slow page load times According to  Unbounce , ‘Nearly 70% of consumers admit that page speed influences their likel
Read more

SmartScreen Vulnerability: CVE-2024-21412 Facts and Fixes

-
Image
On Feb. 13, 2024, Microsoft issued a  patch  for CVE-2024-21412, a  Microsoft Defender SmartScreen  vulnerability revolving around internet shortcuts. Previously, we discovered that an advanced persistent threat (APT) group we track under the name Water Hydra has been exploiting CVE-2024-21412 in a sophisticated campaign targeting financial market traders, allowing the group to bypass Microsoft Defender SmartScreen and infect its victims with the DarkMe remote access trojan (RAT). Threat actors are constantly finding new ways of identifying and exploiting gaps to bypass security measures. We found that the bypass of CVE-2023-36025 (a previously patched SmartScreen vulnerability) led to the discovery and exploitation of CVE-2024-21412. This highlights how threat actors can circumvent patches by identifying new vectors of attack around a patched software component. It is important that organizations are able to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities, especially zero-days, in a timely mann
Read more