 A healthy percentage of Android users targeted by mobile malware or mobile adware last year suffered a system partition infection, making the malicious files virtually undeletable. That’s according to research from Kaspersky, which found that 14.8 percent of its users who suffered such attacks were left with undeletable files. These range from trojans that can install and run apps without the user’s knowledge, to less threatening, but nevertheless intrusive, advertising apps. “A system partition infection entails a high level of risk for the users of infected devices, as a security solution cannot access the system directories, meaning it cannot remove the malicious files,” the firm explained, in a posting on Monday. Moreover, the research found that most devices harbor pre-installed default applications that are also undeletable – the number of those affected varies from 1 to 5 percent of users with low-cost devices and reaches 27 percent in extreme cases. “Infection can happen via two paths: The threat gains root access on a device and installs adware in the system partition, or the code for displaying ads gets into the firmware of the device before it even ends up in the hands of the consumer,” according to the firm. In the latter scenario, this could lead to potentially undesired and unplanned consequences. For instance, many smartphones have functions providing remote access to the device. If abused, such a feature could lead to a data compromise of a user’s device. Among the most common types of malware that Kaspersky has found installed in the system partition of Android smartphones are two older threats: The Lezok and Triada trojans. “The latter is notable for its ad code embedded not just anywhere, but directly in libandroid_runtime — a key library used by almost all apps on the device,” according to the analysis. However, examining victims’ system apps revealed a wide range of threats. The Agent trojan for instance is an obfuscated malware that usually hides in the app that handles the graphical interface of the system, or in the Settings utility, without which the smartphone cannot function properly. The malware delivers its payload, which in turn can download and run arbitrary files on the device. Then there’s the Sivu trojan, which is a dropper masquerading as an HTMLViewer app. “The malware consists of two modules and can use root permissions on the device,” according to Kaspersky. “The first module displays ads on top of other windows, and in notifications. The second module is a backdoor allowing remote control of the smartphone. Its capabilities include installing, uninstalling, and running apps, which can be used to covertly install both legitimate and malicious apps, depending on the intruder’s goals.” The Plague adware app is another common threat that Kaspersky found installed in the system partition. It pretends to be a legitimate system service, calling itself Android Services – but in reality, it can download and install apps behind the user’s back, as well as display ads in notifications. “What’s more, Plague.f can display ads in SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW — a pop-up window that sits on top of all apps,” explained the researchers. The Necro.d trojan is unusual because it’s a native library located in the system directory. Its launch mechanism is built into another system library, libandroid_servers.so, which handles the operation of Android services. “At the command of the command-and-control (C2), Necro.d can download, install, uninstall and run apps,” explained the researchers. “In addition, the developers decided to leave themselves a backdoor for executing arbitrary shell commands. On top of that, Necro.d can download Kingroot superuser rights utility — seemingly so that the OS security system does not interfere with delivering ‘very important’ content for the user.” Further details can be found on OUR FORUM.  Chinese manufacturing giant, Huawei, is doing quite well in the smartphone market. Oh yes, you read that right, the Chinese manufacturer’s smartphone business is growing. Despite the ban by the U.S. Huawei somehow managed to hold on to its own. Since the beginning of last year, the company had to manage American restrictions. Its devices can not use Google Play Services which means that its sales outside China would drop. However, for 2019, Huawei shipped about 240 million smartphones, its record high. Furthermore, the Chinese manufacturer also toppled Samsung in April. For April and May, Huawei is the number one smartphone manufacturer globally. However, there are forecasts that it may lose this position in June. Now, Huawei’s new tablet just got 3C certification. This is coming after two of its high-end chargers (66W & 65 GaN) got the certification. According to the certification, the new tablet comes with model number SCMR-W09. Furthermore, the certification also shows that Huawei’s new tablet supports 22.5W fast charging. Of course, its a tablet and we don’t expect it to come with Huawei’s high-end chargers. According to the listing, the applicant, and manufacturer of this Huawei tablet is Huawei Terminal Co., Ltd. The production plant is Xike Communication Technology Equipment (Heyuan) Co., Ltd while the certification date is June 22. The tablet manufacturing market is not as lucrative as the smartphone business. Presently, there are not many 5G tablets in the market. However, since the beginning of last year, Huawei has released two 5G tablets in the Chinese market – Huawei MatePad Pro 5G and Huawei MatePad. These tablets target different user markets. Among them, Huawei MatePad Pro 5G comes with a Kirin 990 5G SoC, supports 40W super-fast charging, 27W wireless fast charging, and 3D graphene cooling technology. As for the Huawei MatePad, it uses a Kirin 810 chip. It also comes with a built-in 7250 mAh battery that supports 18W fast charge. Turn to OUR FORUM to learn more.  The National Security Agency issued a new cybersecurity advisory on Thursday, warning that virtual private networks, or VPNs, could be vulnerable to attacks if not properly secured. The agency's warning comes amid a surge in telework as organizations adapt to coronavirus-related office closures and other constraints. A VPN allows users to establish private, encrypted connections to another network over the internet. They are used widely by corporations and other organizations to protect proprietary data from hackers while employees work remotely. A senior NSA official who briefed reporters Wednesday said the increase in remote work had attracted the attention of potentially malicious cyber actors. "We certainly see adversaries focused on telework infrastructure," the official said. "We've seen exploitation and as a result, have felt that this was a product that is particularly helpful now." VPN gateways in particular are "prone to network scanning, brute force attacks, and zero-day vulnerabilities," the NSA's advisory said. "[N]etwork administrators should implement strict traffic filtering rules to limit the ports, protocols, and IP addresses of network traffic to VPN devices." The senior official said the NSA, whose employees deal daily with highly classified materials and systems, had taken its own steps to adapt to the pandemic, reducing some of its workforce to "mission-essential" for several weeks and introducing social distancing measures within its outposts. The advisory was issued by the agency's Cybersecurity Directorate, which launched last October. Its mandate involves reinvigorating a set of missions the NSA has long had — protecting government and private sector systems — by accelerating, broadening, and "operationalizing" its dissemination of unclassified threat information, according to officials. The directorate has now issued over a dozen public advisories since its launch. In October, it warned that nation-state actors were targeting VPN devices. In January, it was behind the disclosure of a "critical vulnerability" in Microsoft's Windows 10 software — something the agency might have once exploited, instead, as a hacking tool. And in May, in another rare move, it named a Russian military hacking unit that was secretly accessing commonly used email software. "Attribution is always interesting," the senior NSA official said Wednesday. "We do it if we believe it creates a sense of urgency to address a vulnerability." The directorate's emphasis on information-sharing stems from a recognition that nation-states are getting more aggressive and more sophisticated in going after the government and non-government targets. Its leadership has said it is also a conscious effort to move away from stubborn perceptions that the agency is a secretive black box — or "No-Such-Agency," as the NSA has been labeled. (Its foreign intelligence mission — which involves intercepting signals and communications overseas — is likely to continue avoiding the public eye.) The agency has also broadened its presence on social media, launching an Instagram account, a dedicated Twitter account for the directorate, and even bringing its notoriously circumspect director to the platform. (Paul Nakasone has tweeted three times in three weeks.) For more turn to OUR FORUM for more complete details. |
Latest Articles
|