Android malware encrypts files and asks for ransom

Information security researchers have discovered a new type of Android malware, Beijing time, June 9 morning. The Trojan will encrypt photos, videos and documents in the user's phone, and ask the user to pay a ransom to recover. "This malware, known as Android/simplocker, is still in the proof-of-concept phase," Robert Lipovsky Robert Lipovsky, a ESET malware researcher, said in a recent blog. Currently, the malware targets Russian users and asks the victims to pay the ransom in Ukrainian currency. This shows that the malware is currently targeting Eastern Europe. Industry insiders believe that the malware integrates social engineering, cryptography technology and the Internet architecture, and may become a more serious and widespread threat in the future. Earlier, the first text-sucking Android Trojan was also born in Eastern Europe. The malware scans the user's cell phone's SD card for files with extensions of JPEG, JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, PDF, doc, docx, TXT, AVI, MKV, 3GP, and MP4, and then encrypts the files using the Advanced Encryption Standard. It is not clear whether users will be able to ensure that the files are decrypted after the ransom is paid. ESET advises users not to pay the ransom. According to a report released by the Information Security Research agency Sophos in Friday, users can reboot into Safe mode and then manually remove the malware, but the malicious software files will be permanently lost. Sophos says users can retrieve files by recovering the AES key in the malware, but this requires some technical capability. One months ago, another Android malware reported by the researchers would disable the user's phone and ask users to pay the ransom. 8 months ago, a malware named Cryptolocker could permanently lock a PC's hard drive unless the victim paid a 300 dollar fee. ESET Analysis of malicious software is included in the application sex Xionix. The app is not on the shelves in Google Play stores and is mainly spread through other channels. As a result, Android users should be cautious before choosing to install applications from other sources. (D-Gold)