Mobile threats

Research

Ad Plus instead of AdBlock Plus

This is one of those scenarios where the user looks for protection but only finds problems.  Sergio de los Santos, a friend of mine, has shared with me a link to a false App that pretends to be AdBlock Plus, the well-known and useful application that many users have in their web browsers. At the time

Research

GCM in malicious attachments

Android OS offers an interesting service known as Google Cloud Messaging, or GCM. This service allows small (up to 4 KB) messages to be sent via the Google server from their mobile devices in JSON format. These messages may contain any structured data, such as links, advertising information, or commands.

Research

Master Keys and Vulnerabilities

Last weeks have been quite busy with announcements of either master keys or Chinese master keysbeing unveiled, both qualifying as critical vulnerabilities for the Android platform. Although things have finally calmed a bit, we are still waiting for the final act in Las Vegas at Black Hat USA, where Jeff Forristal (the researcher who discovered one of the

Incidents

Android Trojan Found in Targeted Attack

In the past, we’ve seen targeted attacks against Tibetan and Uyghur activists on Windows and Mac OS X platforms. We’ve documented several interesting attacks which used ZIP files as well as DOC, XLS and PDF documents rigged with exploits.
Several days ago, the e-mail account of a high-profile Tibetan activist was hacked and used to send targeted attacks to other activists and human rights advocates. Perhaps the most interesting part is that the attack e-mails had an APK attachment – a malicious program for Android.

Reports