SharkBot Trojan Again Infiltrates Google Play Store

Check Point analysts have discovered that SharkBot Android malware has once again made its way into the Google Play Store, masquerading as antivirus apps.

This time, the malware was distributed through three developer accounts (Zbynek Adamcik, Adelmio Pagnotto, און Bingo Like Inc), two of which were active in the fall of 2021.

Let me remind you that SharkBot was previously reported דורך NCC Group עקספּערץ. They said that malware usually disguises itself as antiviruses, actually stealing money from users that installed the application. SharkBot, like its counterparts TeaBot, FluBot, און Oscorp (UBEL), belongs to the category of banking Trojans capable of stealing credentials from hacked devices and bypassing multi-factor authentication mechanisms. The malware first appeared on the scene in the fall of 2021.

The NCC Group report emphasized that SharkBot’s hallmark is its ability to perform unauthorized transactions through Automatic Transfer System (ATS) systems, וואָס, פֿאַר בייַשפּיל, distinguishes it from TeaBot, which requires interaction with a live operator for performing malicious actions.

And also, פֿאַר בייַשפּיל, Cleafy און ThreatFabric זאגט, that the Android Trojan SharkBot uses the Accessibility service to steal credentials from banking and cryptocurrency applications in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Now, טשעק פונט specialists have supplemented the analysis of NCC Group and their colleagues from Cleafy with new data. They write that the malware, again seen in the Google Play Store, does not infect users from China, India, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. אין די זעלבע צייט, six malicious applications found by researchers were installed more than 15,000 times before being removed, and most of the victims were in Italy and the UK.

They also noticed that SharkBot has a very unusual self-distributing mechanism: it is able to automatically respond to notifications from Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, distributing malicious links to its fake antivirus applications among the victim’s contacts.

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