1.5 crore Android devices in India quietly infected by this ‘virus’

In a major cyber security scare, at least 1.5 crore Android devices in India have been infected by malware without the knowledge of the users. According to a report by cyber security solution firm Check Point Research, a new variant of mobile malware has quietly infected around 2.5 crore devices worldwide, including 1.5 crore mobile devices in India. The report claims that the malware is disguised as a Google-related application. As far as the payload is concerned, the malware exploits known Android vulnerabilities and automatically replaces installed apps with malicious versions on its own.
“The malware is dubbed as Agent Smith, uses broad access to the devices’ resources to show fraudulent ads for financial gain, but could easily be used for far more intrusive and harmful purposes such as banking credential theft and eavesdropping,” said Check Point in a statement. This activity resembles previous malware campaigns such as Gooligan, Hummingbad and CopyCat.