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According to a research team from Kaspersky Lab, a Russia based company that specializes in developing and selling cybersecurity solutions, 2017 saw at least 1.2 million users who own mobile devices powered by Google’s Android mobile operating system encounter malware that were disguised as pornographic content. The firm estimates that 4.9 million people had suffered from malware attacks last year, which meant that around a quarter of that volume got malware disguised as porn.
Using Internet porn to lure unsuspecting users is pretty common in this day and age. A few months ago, a group of hackers made off with $892,000 by victimizing over a million Android running mobile devices through the use of fake porn apps. Then back in July of last year, a network armed with 90,000 bots overloaded social media giant Twitter with pornographic content that directed users to a scam site.
While the Kaspersky Lab researchers pointed out that encountering malware disguised as porn is pretty common among desktop computer users (the team discovered over 300,000 cases of porn malware), it is even worse on mobile. The company uncovered no less than 23 separate types of porn malware, fashioned specifically in order to attack Android powered smartphones and tablet devices. They range from Trojans that steal the user’s banking information, fake subscriptions, and even ransomware.
Particularly damaging are Trojans that proceed to access web pages and click on ads without the consent and knowledge of the Android user being exploited. Not only does the clicking of ads generate revenues for the hacker, it also uses up the victim’s data, and even drains his handset’s battery power. Kaspersky Lab cites an incident in which a porn malware burned through a hundred megabytes of data just by clicking on ads from dusk until dawn.
As for ransomware types of malware, what they do is disguise themselves as fake porn apps, which when downloaded and installed on an unsuspecting Android mobile device, proceeds to change the handset’s password and lock it, basically holding the user’s phone hostage until he pays the ransom. What is worse is that even if the victim is successful in getting rid of the malware, his or her handset will remain locked.
But wait -- how do users get those fake porn apps when those types of apps are not allowed in the Google Play store in the first place? Unfortunately, third party app stores are not as strict or as vigilant as Google’s online store in weeding out suspicious apps.
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