Malware spreads in Huawei App Gallery

More than nine million Android devices are infected with a Trojan called “Android-Cynos.7.origin”. About 190 infected Android apps that users downloaded from Huawei App Gallery, such as tech magazine, are responsible for the outbreak “chip” mentioned.

Huawei App Gallery as a starting point

It is said that the infected applications are mainly games. The games are aimed at an international audience, they say. The Trojan is a problem because it asks users for specific permission – for example, permission to access phone data. Once confirmed, the report says that the Trojan can collect user data and send it to a remote service.

The most downloaded infected games are:

• A Chinese game called “快点 起来” (Eng. Hide Quickly) with more than two million downloads

• “Cat adventures” MIT 427’000 downloads

• “Drive School Simulator” with 142’000 downloads

• Russian game called “Команда должна убить боеголовку” (the engineer the team must destroy the warhead) “with more than 8000 downloads

According to “Chip”, the virus obtains the following data:

• User’s mobile phone number

• Device location based on GPS coordinates or data from the cellular network and Wi-Fi access point (if the app has permission to access the location)

• Various parameters of the cellular network, such as the network code and the country code for the cellular network. Also GSM cell ID and international GSM area code (if the app has permission to access the location)

• Various technical data of the machine

• Various parameters of Trojanized application metadata

Cyber ​​attacks are a new but rapidly growing problem. This is also evidenced by the study on cybersecurity in small and medium businesses in 2021, with every third small and medium business falling victim to an attack. Find out more about studying here.

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