Malicious Android apps have been discovered on the market on the darknet and are being bought for as much as $20,000, based on safety researchers at Kaspersky.
The corporate described the findings in an article revealed on Monday, during which it mentioned the workforce collected examples from 9 completely different darknet boards the place these apps are being bought.
“Like on reliable boards for promoting items, there are numerous Darknet provides for various wants and clients with completely different budgets,” reported Kaspersky. “To publish a malicious app, cybercriminals want a Google Play account and a malicious downloader code (Google Play Loader).”
Developer accounts could be purchased for $60–$200 every, Kaspersky defined. Alternatively, the price of malicious loaders ranges between $2000 and $20,000, relying on the complexity of malware and malicious code, in addition to further capabilities.
These instruments are often disguised as cryptocurrency trackers, monetary apps, QR-code scanners or relationship apps.
Learn extra on Android malware right here: New Android Banking Trojan ‘Nexus’ Promoted As MaaS
“Cybercriminals additionally spotlight what number of downloads the reliable model of that app has, which implies what number of potential victims could be contaminated by updating the app and including malicious code to it. Most steadily, the options specify 5000 downloads or extra,” Kaspersky wrote.
Additional, cybercriminals may pay an extra price to cover the appliance code and make it more durable to detect.
“To extend the variety of downloads to a malicious app, many attackers additionally provide to buy installs directing site visitors by means of Google advertisements and attracting extra customers to obtain the app. Installs price in a different way for every nation,” reads the report.
Relating to the ‘enterprise mannequin’ behind these apps, risk actors provide both a share of the ultimate revenue from the malware, lease of the identical, or full buy of both an account or a risk.
“Malicious cellular apps proceed to be one of many high cyber-threats concentrating on customers, with greater than 1.6 million cellular assaults detected in 2022,” commented Alisa Kulishenko, a safety professional at Kaspersky. “On the similar time, the standard of cybersecurity options that shield customers from these assaults can be growing.”
Working example, a separate Kaspersky report revealed on the finish of February steered there have been 196,476 new cellular banking Trojan installers in 2022 within the wild, greater than double the figures from 2021.
