NGate Campaign Targets Brazil, Trojanizes HandyPay to Steal NFC Data and PINs
Apr 21, 2026
Mobile Security / Artificial Intelligence
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new iteration of an Android malware family called NGate that has been found to abuse a legitimate application called HandyPay instead of NFCGate. "The threat actors took the app, which is used to relay NFC data, and patched it with malicious code that appears to have been AI-generated," ESET security researcher Lukáš Štefanko said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "As with previous iterations of NGate, the malicious code allows the attackers to transfer NFC data from the victim's payment card to their own device and use it for contactless ATM cash-outs and unauthorized payments." In addition, the malicious payload is capable of capturing the victim's payment card PIN and exfiltrating it to the threat actor's command-and-control (C2) server. NGate, also known as NFSkate, was first publicly documented by the Slovakian cybersecurity vendor in August 2024, detailing its ability to carry out relay ...
