Security experts have spotted a malware that has affected almost 10 million Android phones. The software which is installing apps and spying on the browsing habits of victims is making about 300,000 (£232,000) a month for its creators, research has suggested. Majority of phones that have come under the influence of this malware are from China.
A spike in the number of phones infected by the malware was noticed separately by security companies Checkpoint and Lookout. China, India, the Philippines and Indonesia top the list of nations with most phones infected by the software and we suggest users to use softwares that provide security to their phones.
“It can remain persistent even if the user performs a factory reset. It uses its root privileges to install additional apps on to the device, further increasing ad revenue for the authors and defeating uninstall attempts,” writes Kristy Edwards from Lookout in her blogpost.
Google said: “We’ve long been aware of this evolving family of malware and we’re constantly improving our systems that detect it. We actively block installations of infected apps to keep users and their information safe.”