Leading anti-virus provider Kaspersky has warned that a new malware has been detected, which has the power to steal money from your mobile.
Such are the advanced features, that the mobile owner won’t even come to know about this theft, because no credit/debit card or wallet would be hacked for this robbery.
This new malware has been identified as Xafecopy Trojan, and out of 4,800 victims in 47 countries, India has the highest: 37.5% cases. Russia, Turkey and Mexico are the other countries where this new form of digital terror has impacted the most.
Xafecopy: Malware Which Steals Via WAP Method
The warning issued by Kaspersky says, “Kaspersky Lab experts have uncovered a mobile malware targeting the WAP billing payment method, stealing money through victims’ mobile accounts without their knowledge,”
The modus operandi is pretty simple: The malware will enter your smartphone via utility apps such as BatteryMaster (mentioned in the report), and will sit idly on your phone for some days.
Then, it will start loading a malicious code, which has a dedicated task of attacking web pages under Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) billing.
Under WAP billing, the services are charged to the user’s mobile phone bill, thereby bypassing credit and debit cards or mobile wallets.
The malware secretly subscribes to several services available under WAP services, and the user is not even aware.
As there are no credit card or debit cards and mobile wallet involved, there comes no OTPs to warn the user, and the malware is able to suck in money directly from the mobile user’s phone bill, which will reflect in the invoice next month.
Xafecopy Is Smart & Intelligent
The malware detected by Kaspersky Labs is smart and intelligent as well, besides being evil.
As per Kaspersky Lab Senior Malware Analyst Roman Unuchek, it will discreetly send SMS to premium messaging services, thereby stealing money from the user, via WAP method.
Besides, it will also stop incoming messages or alerts, when such a paid service is subscribed. Hence, the user is stopped from accessing any message or notification, which can alert them.
Kaspersky Lab, Managing Director- South Asia, Altaf Halde has specially issued a warning for Android users, as he said, “It is best not to trust third-party apps, and whatever apps users do download should be scanned locally with the Verify Apps utility. But beyond that, Android users should be running a mobile security suite on their devices.”
In India, WAP related services are limited to ringtones, games, screensavers and other such premium services, which are directly billed in the invoice of the telecom operator. However, more and more services, especially under finance sector, are coming up under WAP eco-system, as the payment transfer is generally fast, and a user who has no bank account can also avail this service.
We will keep you updated, as we receive more information on this malware attack.