In If you are using a smartphone with Android, then you need to be on the guard. A researcher with Computer Associates has spotted a Trojan for the Google Android platform that is capable of quietly recording user's phone calls for possible misuse at a later stage.
This is not the first time that Android has had a problem with Trojan applications. In the past too there have been instances where cyber criminals have gotten hold of a popular Android app and modified it to include a malicious payload. After that the infected app gets re-uploaded at the marketplace.
As soon as a user downloads the infected app, his or her device becomes ready to share all kinds of details with the Trojans creator. Text messages, call and contact information, and, as the present case has show, even complete audio recordings can get leaked. According to Dinesh Venkatesan, a CA researcher, the Trojan records audio in AMR format.
In his blog at CA Community, Venkatesan writes, This is a recent malware that targets the Android platform. This Trojan like many typical social engineering Trojans, comes bundled with a game. The credit for discovering it goes to Prof. Xuxian Jiang. The audio that the Trojan records gets stored in the mobiles microSD card.
So why do cyber criminals want to bother with recording audio calls? The answer is obvious. This could be an incredibly devious way of harvesting answers to the verification questions your bank or credit card company requests when you call in. Sure, it might turn out to be a pain to shift through all the recorded calls, but calls to financial institutions can easily be weeded out using their phone numbers.
Dinesh Venkatesan says, We have already begun to see a steady growth in the number of social engineering based Trojans for the mobile platform and we believe that only educating the users along with adequate software protection is the key to be safer from such malware threats.
A study done by Juniper Networks has revealed a 400 percent increase in Android malware since 2010. The same report has also sounded alarm over Wi-Fi attacks.
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