Android+Malware | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Security researchers at Zimperium's zLabs have documented a new Android banking trojan, Rokarolla , that targets 217 banking and cryptocurrency apps and packs 137 remote commands. Together, they give an operator near-total control of an infected phone: it lifts lock-screen PINs, reads and sends SMS, rewrites the clipboard to redirect crypto payments, and switches off Google Play Protect. Rokarolla , named after its command-and-control servers, spreads through malicious websites posing as well-known apps such as TikTok and Chrome. The first thing a victim installs is a dropper that pretends to be Google Play Protect. It uses that disguise to get the payload installed and grab Accessibility access. Once the malware is running, one of its commands turns Play Protect off. The theft runs through overlays. Rokarolla pulls a target list from its server, and for each app flagged active, it downloads a fake HTML login page and stores it in a local database. When the victim ope...

Arabic-speaking users have emerged as the target of a new Android spyware codenamed Asin , according to findings from ESET. The Slovakian cybersecurity company said it first detected the malware spread via multiple campaigns in early 2025, with each attack wave making use of distinct websites mimicking utilities, war-related updates, and a government news source: govlens[.]net, which impersonates a government news source (registered on May 27, 2025) pdf-reader[.]help, which impersonates a secure PDF editor (registered on May 29, 2025) live-war-map[.]com, which claims to offer updates on military incidents (registered on January 20, 2025) Two of these websites - govlens[.]net and live-war-map[.]com - were also marketed via dedicated accounts on social media platforms like Facebook and Telegram - www.facebook[.]com/GovLens t[.]me/liveuamap_ar "Each of these websites distributes a malicious app that combines legitimate functionality with stealthy spyware ca...

Dutch authorities have announced the takedown of a botnet that enslaved millions of infected devices, including computers, tablets, smartphones, and IoT devices, to carry out malicious attacks. The bot network, per the Dutch Politie and the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), consisted of at least 17 million infected devices. More than 200 servers located in the Netherlands acted as the platform's backend infrastructure. According to a statement issued by the NCSC, police officials seized a subset of these servers from a hosting provider that provided the infrastructure. The provider is said to have subsequently taken the botnet offline following its use for criminal purposes. Although the name of the botnet was not explicitly mentioned, local news outlet NL Times reported that the service in question was Asocks, a company that offers residential proxies . In April 2024, HUMAN's Satori Threat Intelligence team identified a campaign dubbed PROXYLIB that involved inf...

Latin America and Europe become the target of two banking trojan campaigns that are designed to infect Windows and Android devices with Grandoreiro and BTMOB malware, respectively. That's according to new findings from WatchGuard and ESET, which have observed the two malware families being used to single out companies in Spain, Portugal, and Mexico, as well as mobile users in Brazil. The Grandoreiro campaign "uses the DLL Side-Loading technique abusing four different software, targeting banks in Portugal," WatchGuard researcher Euler Neto said . Active since 2016, Grandoreiro is an actively evolving banking malware that's capable of stealing credentials associated with thousands of financial institutions across 45 countries and territories. It's typically distributed via phishing emails, instructing recipients to click on sketchy links. Despite some arrests and attempts by Brazilian authorities to dismantle its infrastructure in early 2024, the malware h...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new ad fraud and malvertising operation dubbed Trapdoor targeting Android device users. The activity, per HUMAN's Satori Threat Intelligence and Research Team, encompassed 455 malicious Android apps and 183 threat actor-owned command-and-control (C2) domains, turning the infrastructure into a pipeline for multi-stage fraud. "Users unwittingly download a threat actor-owned app, often a utility-style app like a PDF viewer or device cleanup tool," researchers Louisa Abel, Ryan Joye, João Marques, João Santos, and Adam Sell detailed in a report shared with The Hacker News. "These apps trigger malvertising campaigns that coerce users into downloading additional threat actor-owned apps. The secondary apps launch hidden WebViews, load threat actor-owned HTML5 domains, and request ads." The campaign, the cybersecurity company added, is self-sustaining in that an organic app install turns into an illicit re...

Google on Tuesday unveiled a new opt-in Android feature called Intrusion Logging for storing forensic logs to better analyze sophisticated spyware attacks. Intrusion Logging, available as part of Advanced Protection Mode , enables "persistent and privacy-preserving forensics logging to allow for investigation of devices in the event of a suspected compromise," the company said. The feature, it added, was developed in partnership with Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders. According to a help document shared by Google, it logs device and network activities on a daily basis, including information about device behavior and the various applications that run on it. The kinds of activities recorded are listed below - App activity (e.g., when an app process starts) App installations, updates, and uninstalls Network connections like starting and stopping Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, DNS lookups, and IP addresses File transfers to or from the device over USB Changes to...

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new version of the TrickMo Android banking trojan that uses The Open Network (TON) for command-and-control (C2). The new variant, observed by ThreatFabric between January and February 2026, has been observed actively targeting banking and cryptocurrency wallet users in France, Italy, and Austria. "TrickMo relies on a runtime-loaded APK  (dex.module), used also by the previous variant, but updated with new features adding new network-oriented functionality, including reconnaissance, SSH tunnelling, and SOCKS5 proxying capabilities that allow infected devices to function as programmable network pivots and traffic-exit nodes," the Dutch mobile security company said in a report shared with The Hacker News. TrickMo is the name assigned to a device takeover (DTO) malware that's been active in the wild since late 2019. It was first flagged by CERT-Bund and IBM X-Force , describing its ability to abuse Android's accessibility ser...

Google on Monday disclosed that it identified an unknown threat actor using a zero-day exploit that it said was likely developed with an artificial intelligence (AI) system, marking the first time the technology has been put to use in the wild in a malicious context for vulnerability discovery and exploit generation. The activity is said to be the work of cybercrime threat actors who appear to have collaborated together to plan what the tech giant described as a "mass vulnerability exploitation operation." "Our analysis of exploits associated with this campaign identified a zero-day vulnerability implemented in a Python script that enables the user to bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) on a popular open-source, web-based system administration tool," Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The tech giant said it worked with the impacted vendor to responsibly disclose the flaw and get it fixed in order to proactiv...

Cybersecurity researchers have exposed a new Mirai -derived botnet that self-identifies as xlabs_v1 and targets internet-exposed devices running Android Debug Bridge ( ADB ) to enlist them in a network capable of carrying out distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Hunt.io, which detailed the malware, said it made the discovery after identifying an exposed directory on a Netherlands-hosted server at the IP address "176.65.139[.]44" without requiring any authentication. The malware supports "21 flood variants across TCP, UDP, and raw protocols, including RakNet and OpenVPN-shaped UDP, capable of bypassing consumer-grade DDoS protection," Hunt.io said, adding it's offered as a DDoS-for-hire service designed for targeting game servers and Minecraft hosts. What makes xlabs_v1 notable is that it seeks out Android devices running an exposed ADB service on TCP port 5555, meaning any gear that comes with the tool enabled by default, such as Android TV boxes,...

Google has announced expanded Binary Transparency for Android as a way to safeguard the ecosystem from supply chain attacks. "This new public ledger ensures the Google apps on your device are exactly what we intended to build and distribute," Google's product and security teams said . The initiative builds upon the foundation of Pixel Binary Transparency , which Google introduced in October 2021 to bolster software integrity by ensuring that Pixel devices are only running verified operating system (OS) software by keeping a public, cryptographic log that records metadata about official factory images. The verifiable security infrastructure mirrors Certificate Transparency , an open framework that requires all issued SSL/TLS certificates to be recorded in public, append-only, and cryptographically verifiable logs to help detect mis-issued or malicious certificates. The move is aimed at countering the risks posed by binary supply chain attacks, which often deliver ...

The North Korea-aligned state-sponsored hacking group known as ScarCruft has compromised a video game platform in a supply chain espionage attack, trojanizing its components with a backdoor called BirdCall to likely target ethnic Koreans residing in China. While prior versions of the backdoor have primarily targeted Windows users only, the supply chain attack is assessed to have enabled the threat actors to also target Android devices, essentially turning it into a multi-platform threat. According to ESET, the campaign has singled out sqgame[.]net, a gaming platform used by ethnic Koreans living in the Yanbian region in China bordering North Korea and Russia. It's also known to act as a primary, high-risk transit point for North Korean defectors crossing the Tumen River. Filip Jurčacko, senior malware researcher at ESET, told The Hacker News that the campaign was discovered in October 2025, adding the trojanized Android games are still available for download on the sqgame[.]ne...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a set of malicious apps on the Apple App Store that impersonate popular cryptocurrency wallets in an attempt to steal recovery phrases and private keys since at least fall 2025. "Once launched, these apps redirect users to browser pages designed to look similar to the App Store and distribute trojanized versions of legitimate wallets," Kaspersky researcher Sergey Puzan said . "The infected apps are specifically engineered to hijack recovery phrases and private keys." The 26 apps, collectively dubbed FakeWallet , mimic various popular wallets like Bitpie, Coinbase, imToken, Ledger, MetaMask, TokenPocket, and Trust Wallet. Many of these apps have since been taken down by Apple following disclosure. There is no evidence that these apps were distributed via the Google Play Store. While malicious cryptocurrency wallets distributed in the past via bogus websites have abused iOS provisioning profiles to get users to install th...

Google this week announced a new set of Play policy updates to strengthen user privacy and protect businesses against fraud, even as it revealed it blocked or removed over 8.3 billion ads globally and suspended 24.9 million accounts in 2025. The new policy updates relate to contact and location permissions in Android, allowing third-party apps to access the contact lists and a user's location in a more privacy-friendly manner. This includes a new Contact Picker, which offers a standardized, secure, and searchable interface for contact selection. "This feature allows users to grant apps access only to the specific contacts they choose, aligning with Android's commitment to data transparency and minimized permission footprints," Google said . Previously, apps requiring access to a specific user's contacts relied on READ_CONTACTS, an overly broad permission that granted apps the ability to access all contacts and their associated information. With the latest cha...

Cybersecurity researchers have unmasked a novel ad fraud scheme that has been found to leverage search engine poisoning (SEO) techniques and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content to push deceptive news stories into Google's Discover feed and trick users into enabling persistent browser notifications that lead to scareware and financial scams. The campaign, which has been found to target the personalized content feeds of Android and Chrome users, has been codenamed Pushpaganda by HUMAN's Satori Threat Intelligence and Research Team. "This operation, named for push notifications central to the scheme, generates invalid organic traffic from real mobile devices by tricking users into subscribing to enabling notifications that presented alarming messages," researchers Louisa Abel, Vikas Parthasarathy, João Santos, and Adam Sell said in a report shared with The Hacker News. At its peak, about 240 million bid requests have been associated wit...

A nascent Android remote access trojan called Mirax has been observed actively targeting Spanish-speaking countries, with campaigns reaching more than 220,000 accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads through advertisements on Meta. "Mirax integrates advanced Remote Access Trojan (RAT) capabilities, allowing threat actors to fully interact with compromised devices in real time," Italian online fraud prevention firm Cleafy said . "Beyond traditional RAT behavior, Mirax enhances its operational value by turning infected devices into residential proxy nodes . Leveraging SOCKS5 protocol support and Yamux multiplexing, it establishes persistent proxy channels that allow attackers to route their traffic through the victim's real IP address." Details of Mirax first emerged last month when Outpost24's KrakenLabs revealed that a threat actor going by the name "Mirax Bot" has been advertising a private malware-as-a-service (MaaS) offerin...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new version of the SparkCat malware on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, more than a year after the trojan was discovered targeting both the mobile operating systems. The malware has been found to conceal itself within seemingly benign apps, such as enterprise messengers and food delivery services, while silently scanning victims' photo galleries for cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases. Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky said it found two infected apps on the App Store and one on the Google Play Store that primarily target cryptocurrency users in Asia. The names of the apps are listed below - Android: SafeX (package name: com.ekhizc.carterocourrier) [version 2.1.0] iOS: SafeW - 云办公助理 , 悟空外卖: 泰国华人生活管家 "The iOS variant, however, takes a different approach as it scans for cryptocurrency wallet mnemonic phrases, which are in English," the company said. "This ma...

Google on Thursday announced a new "advanced flow" for Android sideloading that requires a mandatory 24-hour wait period to install apps from unverified developers in an attempt to balance openness with safety. The new changes come against the backdrop of a developer verification mandate the tech giant announced last year that requires all Android apps to be registered by verified developers to be installed on certified Android devices. The move, it added, was done to flag bad actors faster and prevent them from distributing malware. This also includes potential scenarios where cybercriminals trick unsuspecting users who sideload such apps into granting them elevated privileges that make it possible to turn off Play Protect, the anti-malware feature built into all Google-certified Android devices. However, the mandatory registration requirements have been met with criticism from over 50 app developers and marketplaces, including F-Droid, Brave, The Electronic Fronti...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a new Android malware family called Perseus that's being actively distributed in the wild with an aim to conduct device takeover (DTO) and financial fraud. Perseus is built upon the foundations of Cerberus and Phoenix, at the same time evolving into a "more flexible and capable platform" for compromising Android devices through dropper apps distributed via phishing sites. "Through Accessibility-based remote sessions, the malware enables real-time monitoring and precise interaction with infected devices, allowing full device takeover and targeting various regions, with a strong focus on Turkey and Italy," ThreatFabric said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "Beyond traditional credential theft, Perseus monitors user notes, indicating a focus on extracting high-value personal or financial information." Cerberus was first documented by the Dutch mobile security company in August 2019, highlighting th...

Google is testing a new security feature as part of Android Advanced Protection Mode (AAPM) that prevents certain kinds of apps from using the accessibility services API. The change, incorporated in Android 17 Beta 2, was first reported by Android Authority last week. AAPM was introduced by Google in Android 16, released last year. When enabled , it causes the device to enter a heightened security state to guard against sophisticated cyber attacks. Like Apple's Lockdown Mode, the opt-in feature prioritizes security at the cost of diminished functionality and usability so as to minimize the attack surface. Some of the core configurations include blocking app installation from unknown sources, restricting USB data signaling, and mandating Google Play Protect scanning. "Developers can integrate with this feature using the AdvancedProtectionManager API to detect the mode's status, enabling applications to automatically adopt a hardened security posture or restrict h...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered half-a-dozen new Android malware families that come with capabilities to steal data from compromised devices and conduct financial fraud. The Android malware range from traditional banking trojans like PixRevolution , TaxiSpy RAT , BeatBanker , Mirax , and Oblivion RAT to full-fledged remote administration tools such as SURXRAT . PixRevolution, according to Zimperium, targets Brazil's Pix instant payment platform , hijacking victims' money transfers in real-time to route them to the threat actors instead of the intended payee. "This new strain of malware operates stealthily within the device until the moment the victim initiates a Pix transfer," security researcher Aazim Yaswant said . "What distinguishes this threat from conventional banking trojans is its fundamental design: a human or AI agent operator is actively engaged on the remote end, observing the victim's phone screen instantaneously, poised to act at ...