Alert! Detected app that allows you to create ransomware for Android

[OyaYansa]

Ransomware is the top security threat today, a risk that has become especially apparent after the WannaCry attack last May. The malware does not infect only computers, but can also attack mobile phones, so all devices are in danger and may be victims of file hijacking and the terminal itself.

It is important that you take precautions to prevent your smartphone from suffering an infection because it is possible that ransomware continues to proliferate quickly. And is that, according to a report by security firm Symantec, is circulating through the Deep Web an Android development kit ransomware that allows to create new strains of this type of virus from the mobile phone, easily for any Person and without the need for programming knowledge.

"The whole process of creating a piece of ready-to-use malware is done through an app for the smartphone without writing a single line of code," said Dinesh Venkatesan, senior threat analysis engineer at Symantec.

The kit is installed by downloading on the mobile phone an APK that has been detected in various Chinese forums. The only thing to do to create a new malware is to complete a series of parameters in a form, following the indications of the application. Attackers have the ability to customize the following:

Message from the unlock screen.
Password to unlock the terminal.
Malware icon.
System to randomize the code.
Animation to be displayed on the infected device

Once you have customized all the features, the criminal clicks the Create button and contacts the developer of the tool to make payment for the ransomware piece. The virus that is created by this process follows the same behavior as Lockdroid: what it does is block the terminal screen with an alert window that indicates that the mobile has been hijacked, facilitates payment instructions and allows you to enter the unlock code .

At the moment this Android-based app is only detected in China, but researchers believe that this model of ransomware-as-a-service for mobile phones can be extended very quickly to other countries.

To protect your Android phone from this threat, keep the operating system up to date, download applications only from trusted sources, monitor the permissions that are requested by the apps when you install them and always have a recent backup of your files.