Whatsapp virus loads Trojans onto Android smartphones

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E-mails with viruses attached have long been part of everyday life on computers, while malware has fortunately been the exception on smartphones. Accordingly, many users react inappropriately to the new methods used by criminals. The security experts at Check Point Research have now discovered malware that spreads itself like a worm - using the popular WhatsApp messenger for this purpose.


The defective app was offered for download in Google's Play Store, the software store for Android smartphones. It was called "FlixOnline" and pretended to provide free access to Netflix. Instead of free entertainment, however, the malware was waiting, which was supposed to spy out login data and credit card information, among other things.


To spread from one smartphone to the next, the application monitored the user's WhatsApp notifications, write the experts at Check Point Research. The app automatically replied to incoming messages with a link that led to the software in the Play Store. In this way, friends and acquaintances should also be encouraged to download the malicious software from the Play Store, provided they have an Android smartphone.


Google removed the app immediately after being made aware of it. However, at this point, it had already been downloaded nearly 500 times.


The Whatsapp scam is becoming more popular


Even if the danger of "FlixOnline" has been averted, for the time being, the case shows that one has to act increasingly cautiously even on smartphones. "The fact that the malware could be camouflaged so easily and ultimately overcome the protection of the Google Play Store is an alarm signal," Aviran Hazum of Check Point told the IT blog "BleepingComputer".


The security researchers at Check Point Research emphasize that this type of spread will probably be observed even more frequently in the future in the case of further malware.