Security researchers have just issued a stark warning for hundreds of millions of Android users, as a “frightening” new spyware threat has been discovered hiding on phones. They describe this as a “special case” and urge users to take action now.
The warning comes courtesy of Kaspersky, which has “discovered a new malware campaign targeting Android users.” This “spy” targets smartphones “through messengers” by pretending to be an antivirus or banking security app.
The attackers, Kaspersky says, are preying on the “fear” of smartphone security threats that means “many folks are ready to install any app that promises reliable protection from malware and scammers.” Ironically, this solution is actually the problem.
When you install one of these apps, “the fake antivirus imitates the work of a genuine one — scanning the device, and even giving a frightening number of ‘threats found’.” In reality, this is the threat now “spying on the owner of the infected smartphone.”
The malware itself is LumaSpy, which can access your phone’s microphone and camera to record audio and video, read all your texts, access your contacts, track your precise location and record whatever you are doing on screen. The malware has also been coded to steal photos stored on your phone, but this has not been enabled as yet.
Critically, LumaSpy can be tasked to steal passwords stored in browsers, including Google Chrome. That’s why I have warned users to delete passwords saved in browsers and use a dedicated, blue-chip password manager instead.
LumaSpy will come at you via messages. “Never download APK files from messengers,” Kaspersky says, “even if they were sent to you by close friends. Better yet, disable the ability to install unknown applications,” which is easily done with Google’s new Advanced Protection Mode in Android 16.
The other key advice relates to Accessibility Services, the special permissions many malware-laced apps request to access sensitive data and functions on your phone. You should check the permissions granted to apps regularly and disable these in particular.
The simplest advice, though, is to stop using any security or antivirus software on your phone unless it comes from a mainstream developer and ideally is paid for in some way.
Stop using any that are not, and delete all of them from your phone.
