Mobile threats

The following statistics were compiled in September using data collected from computers running Kaspersky Lab products

Online banking is now a run-of-the-mill affair for most.

Cyber-criminals are using malicious QR codes to push malware on Android devices.

In 2010 we noted a decline in the number of players in the fake antivirus market, and as a result, fewer counterfeit programs used to distribute fake antivirus products

The first version of ZeuS-in-the-Mobile (ZitMo), malware which targets mTANs, was discovered in the end of September 2010. And now please ‘welcome’ ZeuS-in-the-Mobile for Android.

Various malware and riskware programs created for mobile platforms with premium rate SMS usage have been a huge problem for a very long time for users from countries like Russia, Ukraine or China. What about other countries?

Some major events have taken place since the publication of Mobile Malware Evolution: An Overview, Part 3.

The BBC today reported the announcement of the first UK ‘mobile wallet’, allowing people to pay for things using their mobile phone.

A host of events took place in the world of IT threats during the first quarter of 2011.

Yesterday several new pieces of malware were found in the Android Market. The first big outbreak of malicious software in the Android Market happened more than 2 months ago and there are some things in common between these cases.

In this newest edition of Lab Matters, Director of Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research and Analysis Team Costin Raiu offers some predictions about what we will see in the second half of 2011.

We read a blogpost about a fake security solution which fraudulently uses the Kaspersky Lab logo in order to better fool potential victims. We have detected this fake AV since August 6 2008, as not-a-virus:FraudTool.J2ME.KaspAV.a.

In some Eastern European countries (Russia and Ukraine especially), there are legal loopholes that allow the use of SMS premium rate numbers anonymously. In addition, some Russian mobile operators allow people to transfer money from prepaid SIM cards to bank accounts or credit cards. When combined, these two things allow cyber-crime activity that generate illegal profits. In this issue of Lab Matters webcast, Kaspersky Lab malware researcher Denis Maslennikov discusses this component of mobile security and talks about the ways cyber-criminals are maliciously exploiting prepaid SIM cards and money transfers. Maslennikov also describes the main pillar of the underground economy and ecosystem of his type of fraud.

In this episode of Lab Matters, Kaspesky Lab malware researcher Tim Armstrong joins Ryan Naraine to examine the security posture of the Android mobile operating system. Armstrong looks at strengths and weaknesses of the open-source platform and warns about the risks associated with jailbreaking/rooting Android devices.

Yesterday my colleague Tim Armstrong wrote about the malware outbreak in the Android Market. In short, a number of legal apps were trojanized and uploaded to the Android Market. Let’s take a closer look into one of them.