Legitimate Android app causes users to infect friends with malware

[Starbuck]

Android.Trojan.KuSaseSMS encourages users to share it via self-advertising links

 

BitDefender Virus Researchers Andrei DAMIAN-FEKETE and Vlad ILIE have discovered a new piece of Android malware, baptized Android.Trojan.KuSaseSMS. This mobile threat propagates by means of self-advertising links sent by unwary users via two clean online video stream viewers available on the Google Android Market, cleverly encouraging friends to infect each other.

 

The user has the option to send an SMS or an e-mail message to promote the respective viewers to their contacts and friends. If this option is chosen, a predefined text will be entered in the "default sms/email client". The SMS or e-mail will only be sent after the user chooses a recipient. The predefined text for both viewers contains the same link which actually takes the recipient to a malicious app, identified as Android.Trojan.KuSaseSMS. The Trojan sends 6 SMS to number “10086” (a Chinese phone service number) and it blocks all SMS coming from numbers beginning with “10”.

 

The friends or contacts of the person having accessed the viewers are the intended victims of this malware disseminaton scheme. Once they have installed the malicious Android.Trojan.KuSaseSMS app, the piece of malware accesses an alleged update link which, in fact, opens up the way to another malicious code that is similar in behavior to HippoSMS. HippoSMS is known to piggyback apparently legitimate applications available on alternative Android markets and to send SMS messages to premium rate numbers.

 

BitDefender users can keep their smartphones safe from harm using BitDefender Mobile Security, which uses new in-the-cloud antivirus services to efficiently scan the device and prevent malicious applications from being installed. BitDefender Mobile Security, now in beta, is available here

 

 

Source:

http://www.malwarecity.com/blog/legitimate-android-app-causes-users-to-infect-friends-with-malware-1110.html