News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

ESET catches spyware posing as Telegram, Android messaging apps

https://www.cyberscoop.com/telegram-spyw...ging-apps/

A hacking group that typically spies on targets in the Middle East has updated its malware and is distributing it through bogus versions of popular messaging apps such as Telegram.
The malware has been circulating since May 2019.

The group is known as APT-C-23 or the Two-tailed Scorpion. Why do I emphasize on its name here? Err, you see, back in 2017 and 2018 this very same group was linked to nobody else but HAMAS. Yes, it's related to that Middle Eastern terrorist group.

Victims are infected by visiting a fake app store, “DigitalApps,” containing both clean and malicious software.The malware was hidden in apps posing as Telegram, another messaging platform, Threema, and a utility labeled as AndroidUpdate. Users who downloaded the two messaging apps had the apps’ full functionality, but also were infected with malware.
The malware has extended spying functionality, including reading notifications from messaging apps, call recording and screen recording, and new stealth features, such as dismissing notifications from built-in Android security apps.

Yeap, this guy is a real thief for sure.