More than a million Android devices are victims of a malicious software – The World

A malicious software, called Gooligan, is installed on 57 % of Android handsets in Asia, and 9 % in Europe, according to Check Point, an it security firm.

Over a million Android devices have been the victims of a malicious software, called Gooligan, alert, Wednesday, November 30, the israeli company Check Point, which specializes in virus protection. This “malware” installs itself in the Android smartphones and tablets, retrieves the e-mail addresses and the authentication tokens stored on the devices, and used them to install without the user’s knowledge of the rogue applications to generate revenue. Already 57 % of Android devices are infected in Asia, mainly in India and Indonesia, and 9 % in Europe, says the company. France is hardly affected : 169 terminal on November 15.

According to Check Point, Gooligan key 13 000 new devices per day, more specifically those who operate with older versions of the operating system, like Android 4 (Jelly Bean, KitKat) and 5 (Lollipop), released between 2011 and 2014. These programs equip nearly 74% of Android devices in use today, especially in the emerging countries, says Check Point.

2 million installed applications

In all, 2 million applications have been installed by Gooligan without the knowledge of the users since its appearance, ” says the israeli company. What that yields, at each time, a little money to the creators of the malware : it is in current effect, in the advertising area, pay third-party organizations to to each download of the application that they have been able to generate.

Gooligan also downloads, according to Check Point, apps, displaying advertising, and automatically generates clicks on it, in order to obtain a compensation on the part of governed legal, who do not know what is going on.

The malware installs by clicking on links or downloading fake apps vérolées. Several dozen have already been identified, such as ” Weather “, ” YouTube Dowloader “, ” Fruit Slots “, “Snake” or ” GPS Accelerator “. Several hundred e-mails related to the businesses around the world are affected by piracy, estimated Check Point, which offers a special page to check if their email address is among those that have been pirated.

Google ensures that no data has been stolen

Google has acknowledged the problem. In a message posted online, Adrian Ludwig, security manager for Android, explains to have worked for the past week with Check Point ” to investigate and protect the users, “. To try to reassure the latter, it ensures that the investigation revealed no theft of user data : ” The motivation behind [the malware] is to promote applications, not steal information. “ Gooligan is, in fact, he says, a variant of the Ghost Push, a set of malware from downloading applications without the knowledge of the user, and it since 2014.

He points out that all the owners of affected accounts have been notified, and that their authentication tokens, compromise by Gooligan, have been revoked. Google has provided, he says, the instructions to re-enable them in a secure way.