New Malicious Coronavirus Tracker App Locks down Android Phones

A new malicious Android app is out in the wild locking down phones of users. The app is named CovidLock and it is reportedly ransomware masqueraded as coronavirus tracker.

Simply like the very nature of popular ransomware like Wannacry, CovidLock demands a sum of money to let users regain access to their smartphones. To achieve this, the attackers are using a technique chosen "screen-lock attack" that forces end-users to change their passwords.

The ransomware demands $100 billion in bitcoin within 48 hours of lockdown to release the telephone. "Notation: Your GPS is watched and your location is known. If yous try anything stupid your phone will be automatically erased.", reads the note on CovidLock.

According to Tarik Saleh, senior security engineer and malware researchers at DomainTools, only the devices that don't have a countersign are vulnerable to the attack if the Android version is Nougat or afterward.

In case you've already installed CovidLock and your device has got locked, exercise non worry. All y'all have to do is enter the countersign 4865083501 to regain access, courtesy of a Reddit user who managed to decompile the app and extract the decryption key.

You may use the coronavirus map developed by the researchers at Johns Hopkins University'south Heart for Systems Science and Applied science or Microsoft'southward recently launched Bing Covid tracker to stay updated with coronavirus statistics.

If you lot'd similar to stay safe from like incidents, make sure you always install applications from trusted sources like Google Play Store. To forestall such malicious activity from taking place, both Google and Apple tree are actively monitoring coronavirus related apps existence uploaded to their stores and are allowing apps only from trusted sources.

Featured Epitome Courtesy: DomainTools

Source: https://beebom.com/malicious-coronavirus-tracker-app-lock-down-android-phones/

Posted by: anthonymadmon.blogspot.com

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