We have recently seen security threats targeting Apple users, but today’s news affects those in the Android world. Today, the New York Times reported that 4.5 million Americans (since 2013) have been affected by a specific mobile Android malware called, NotCompatible.
This mobile malware was first encountered by Lookout about two years ago. NotCompatible affects smartphones, by infecting legitimate web sites with harmful code. When users visit these websites from their mobile device, they download the code without even knowing about it, also referred to as a “drive-by download.”
In some cases, the attackers send spam from stolen email accounts to the victims, and are now disguising the malicious code as a “security patch” through an email attachment. According to Lookout’s researchers, the malware is causing more than 20,000 infections a day.
One of the intentions of this malicious attack according to Lookout is to create a “botnet”, which is a network of infected devices. Attackers are then renting control of infected mobile devices to buy bulk tickets from places like Ticketmaster, Live Nation, EventShopper, and Craigslist. There are also reports of attackers trying to access WordPress accounts.
Lookout creates security applications for both iOS, and Android smartphones. According to Lookout, they can identify the NotCompatible threat, and keep it from infecting Android Devices for those that have downloaded the lookout app.
This is one of the most concerning smartphone threats we have read about recently due to the amount of possible affected users. Hackers can do just as much damage accessing smartphone as they could if they were to access your home or work computer. With that said, do you think that we will see more attacks surface over the next year? Let us know in the comment sections below.