The advent of mobile technology has brought both the good and the bad! Communication has been made much easier but on the other hand, the propagation and dangers associated with mobile malware has continued to increase!
Again, we’re reminded yet another time how quickly these malicious programs can spread once a new outbreak is out. Dubbed “Gazon,” this new malware has been called “one of the single largest messaging-initiated mobile malware outbreaks” by the experts who discovered it. Luckily, Gazon is quite easy to avoid if you know what you’re looking for, and just pause for a minute as we’ll tell you everything you need to know to protect yourself right here in this post.
Mobile security experts at AdaptiveMobile first discovered Gazon and wrote about the new threat on the company’s blog. This Android malware is a worm that hides inside an app claiming to offer Amazon discounts and vouchers and goes to work when a user installs the app.
“The malware passes itself as an app that gives Amazon rewards. However, the only thing it actually does is pulling up a scam page inside the app which asks you to participate in the survey,” AdaptiveMobile said in its blog post. “Each of the options below ends up taking you to either another scam page or asks you to download a game in the Google Play. While you are busy clicking through pages the author just earns money through your clicks as we have seen in other pieces of mobile malware.”
Additionally, Gazon digs through a user’s contact list, steals their contacts and spreads itself by sending messages to the user’s contacts via SMS or social networks.
“By using the victims’ own contacts, the attack exploits peoples’ inherent trust when receiving messages from one of their own contacts,” AdaptiveMobile SVP Simeon Coney said, according to ZDNet. “The speed with which this was able to spread around the globe shows how attackers are using mobile messaging as one of the most effective methods of distributing malware and achieving rapid global reach.”
To avoid the menace of Gazon, do the following:
1. Most importantly, do not install any suspicious software from outside the Google Play app store that claims to offer Amazon discounts.
2. Secondly, if you receive a message from a contact that looks like this, do not click the link:
If you have a phone that has already been infected, you’ll need a mobile security solution like the ones offered by AdaptiveMobile or other solutions to remove it or choose the last option of wiping your Android phone.
Gazon is yet another example of the dangers that await us as we embrace mobile devices for everyday use. But as with everything in life, being careful can save you a lot of future headache.
