Here are the most dangerous cyber threats for our smartphones and how we can defend ourselves to avoid losing information and money
That Android smartphones have long been the focus of hackers’ sights is nothing new. The popularity of Google’s operating system, coupled with its heterogeneity, make it a perfect target for cybercriminals looking for new ways to steal data from users.
Security threats to green robot smartphones are varied: from adware and ransomware to cryptolockers and cryptojackers, users must try to defend themselves (with the support of Google and antivirus) from a growing number of threats. Among them, those belonging to the Trojan family seem to be the most numerous and, above all, the most dangerous. If our Android smartphone were to be infected by a Trojan horse, in fact, not only would we risk being infected by new malware, but we would give hackers the opportunity to freely access our device and steal all the data inside. In short, because of Trojans we could be spied on at any time without having the chance to realize it. Knowing which are the most serious threats, however, also allows you to find out how to defend your Android smartphone from Trojans.
Remote Administration Tool
Remote Administration Tools, better known by the acronym RAT, are Trojans that can be used to remotely connect to any device with an Internet connection. If a hacker through a RAT takes possession of our phone he can do anything with it. Not only see what we write on apps like WhatsApp, the sites we browse and the calls we make. With a remote access Trojan a cyber criminal can take pictures with our phone, activate geo-location to know all our movements, use our home banking app to steal our money and so on. In short, a RAT allows the hacker to do anything with our device. Usually this malware is used by big companies or government agencies in cyber espionage attempts but in recent years many malicious people have started selling easy-to-install packages of a RAT on a phone that jealous partners can buy on the Internet and then install on their partner’s device and start spying on him or her.
Rooting Trojan
As we have understood Trojans are the main threat to our smartphones. Another of the very popular and very harmful Trojans for our device is the rooting Trojan. What is it about? Simple, it is a malware that performs autonomously once the system root is installed on the device. For those who don’t know them, “root permissions” are the so called superuser permissions that allow you to change system folders and files. It is usually an operation that some experts do to customize their phones to the maximum, especially on Android. Taking advantage of some vulnerabilities in the operating system, however, rooting trojans install themselves on the phone and can force the device to open full-screen advertisements or install malware or adware in the background. All without the user noticing the ongoing installations. This type of malware can also replace the apps on the phone with malicious ones that, if opened by the user, do nothing but download more viruses, making the phone virtually unusable in no time. It is not a coincidence that rooting trojans are currently considered as the most dangerous malware in the smartphone world.
Modular Trojans
On the third step of the podium among the most dangerous smartphone malware surely there are modular trojans. These are viruses that have multiple facets, in the sense that they attack the user on multiple fronts. The most obvious case was the spread of Loapi in 2017. What can a modular trojan do in detail? It can show advertisements, it can sign the user up for paid services, it could carry out DDoS attacks on command from a remote server, forward SMS to cyber criminals and so on. And all this without the user noticing anything and being able to do anything to stop the attack. In recent years, these types of trojans have also started to secretly mine our smartphones, becoming to all intents and purposes crypto-malware as well. As a matter of fact, even modular Trojans make our smartphone unusable after a short time, but only after they have stolen all our money and data.
How to defend ourselves against the most dangerous smartphone malware
The above-mentioned Trojans are not to be trifled with. If we were to be attacked by one of these threats, it is very likely that we will not be able to secure money and confidential information in time. In this case more than ever, prevention is better than cure. How? Simple, first let’s disable the installation of apps from unknown sources. Ok, this is a setting disabled by default on Android, while on iOS you have to jailbreak to “break” this block. However, sometimes in order to install a patch for a game or some particular app not found in the Google Play Store some users happen to disable this block only for a short time. Those unprotected minutes could pose a huge danger, and we’ve seen why. Remaining in the field of applications we avoid as much as possible to install them light-heartedly. Before each download we check the reliability of an application and user reviews. We then avoid clicking on suspicious links coming in via email, SMS or on messaging apps, they often contain links to malicious sites or to the automatic download of a malware, which could be one of the trojans described above. Finally, let’s remember to constantly update our operating system and all programs installed on the phone so that we don’t run into old cybersecurity vulnerabilities.