Researchers from Kaspersky have recognized malware being distributed inside apps on each Android and iOS cellular storefronts. Dmitry Kalinin and Sergey Puzan shared their right into a malware marketing campaign, which they’ve dubbed SparkCat, that has probably been energetic since March 2024.
"We can’t affirm with certainty whether or not the an infection was a results of a provide chain assault or deliberate motion by the builders," the pair wrote. "A few of the apps, equivalent to meals supply providers, seemed to be respectable, whereas others apparently had been constructed to lure victims."
The Kaspersky duo mentioned SparkCat is a stealthy operation that at a look seems to be requesting regular or innocent permissions. A few of the apps the place the pair uncovered malware are nonetheless accessible to obtain, together with meals supply app ComeCome and AI chat apps AnyGPT and WeTink.
The malware in query makes use of optical character recognition (OCR) to overview a tool's photograph library, looking for screenshots of restoration phrases for crypto wallets. Based mostly on their evaluation, contaminated Google Play apps have been downloaded greater than 242,000 occasions. Kaspersky says "That is the primary recognized case of an app contaminated with OCR spyware and adware being present in Apple’s official app market."
Apple usually promotes the rigorous safety of the App Retailer, and whereas situations of malware showing have been uncommon, this discovery is a reminder that the walled backyard just isn’t impervious to assaults.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/kaspersky-researchers-find-screenshot-reading-malware-on-the-app-store-and-google-play-211011103.html?src=rss
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