This WhatsApp mod will infect your Android phone — what to do
This WhatsApp mod volition infect your Android phone — what to do
Be very careful about installing a WhatsApp modern on your Android telephone — information technology may contain malware.
Kaspersky reported in a blog post yesterday (Aug. 24) that a sure version of a WhatsApp mod called FMWhatsapp contains malware that itself downloads and installs even worse malware. This includes the notoriously difficult-to-remove xHelper Trojan.
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WhatsApp "mods" are auxiliary Android apps, more often than not constitute outside the Google Play shop, that change how WhatsApp functions. FMWhatsApp, for case, offers to add custom themes, access other apps' emojis and app locking with a PIN, password or fingerprint.
"With this app, information technology is hard for users to recognize the potential threat because the mod application really does what is proposed — information technology adds additional features," said Kaspersky practiced Igor Golovin.
How to avoid infection
FMWhatsapp is not in the Google Play Store at all, and only version xvi.fourscore.0 is known to be infected, then it should be pretty like shooting fish in a barrel to avoid every bit long every bit you don't install apps from third-party app stores. (Y'all take to grant apps special permissions to exercise and so.)
Many of the best Android antivirus apps also catch the rogue version of FMWhatsapp as it's being downloaded, then they will give you lot added protection from it and other forms of Android malware.
What's going on here
FMWhatsapp 16.80.0 contains the Triada Trojan, a strain of mobile malware that'due south been around since 2017. In its electric current form, Triada is a "downloader" whose main purpose is to establish a backdoor through which other malware tin be downloaded and installed.
Forth with xHelper, Triada in this instance installs several other malware strains that diplay ads, run "hidden" ads to commit advertizement fraud, secretly sign up the telephone user to paid subscriptions, harvest phone information and install even more Android malware.
"FMWhatsapp users grant the app permission to read their SMS messages," Golovin points out on the Kaspersky SecureList blog.
"The Trojan and all the further malicious modules it loads as well proceeds admission to them. This allows attackers to automatically sign the victim upward for premium subscriptions, even if a confirmation code is required to complete the procedure."
"Nosotros don't recommend using unofficial modifications of apps, especially WhatsApp mods," the Kaspersky report says. "Yous may well cease up with an unwanted paid subscription, or fifty-fifty lose control of your account altogether."
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/whatsapp-mod-malware
Posted by: mcgeethars1958.blogspot.com
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