Malware

Malicious banking apps in Google Play target Brazilian Android users

Two malicious applications designed to seem like local banking apps and targeting Brazilian Android users were recently found in Google Play, according to blog post from Kaspersky Lab.

Saying that the advent of the first trojan banker “by Brazilian bad guys was predictable," researchers noted that a “bag guy” going by the name of Governo Federal published the apps, which are named after two large Brazilian banks.

Referring to its creators as “lazy” for using free platform App Inventor, researchers noted the first app, published Oct. 31, registers 80 installations while the second on Nov. 10 “had only one installation.”

Both apps “had the function to load the logos of the targeted Banks and open a frame – the phishing page programmed to capture the user's credentials,” they wrote. They've been effective for miscreants because “mobile banking users in Brazil still use single authentication.”

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