Mobile Malware 2021: 3 Malicious Software That You Should Be Careful Of, How to Protect Your Device

A recent study conducted by Check Point revealed the most active mobile malwares in the past month.

Among the most prevalent mobile malwares based on the Check Point study are xHelper, AlienBot and FluBot.

If you are wondering how your device acquires these prevalent viruses, Security Metrics explained it in detail and even provided ways to protect your device from being attacked.

3 Malicious Mobile Malwares You Must Know

According to Security Metrics, mobile devices, in general, are not as secure as computers. This means that the security procedures that companies use to secure data are not installed in mobile devices. In addition, phones are not protected by encryption, firewalls and antivirus software.

With that said, Check Point's Global Threat Index for September 2021 has identified three malwares that were prevalent last month.

1. xHelper

In the study, xHelper is the most prevalent mobile Malware last September 2021. For those not familiar with it, it is a malicious application used for downloading other malicious apps as well as display advertisements. This is also undetectable and cannot be deleted even if the you factory reset the device.

As per InfoSec Institute, xHelper stays on the device and waits for the commands from the attackers.

2. AlienBot

Meanwhile, the AlienBot malware family is known as a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) intended for Android devices. It allows a remote attacker to place malicious codes to legitimate financial applications. Through this, the attacker will be able to access your accounts and controls your device. AlienBot virus jeopardizes the victim's banking data.

As per Teller Report, the following apps are infected by the malware, but they are still in the Google Play Store. With that said, it is best to avoid them.

Cake VPN: This goes by its name com.lazycoder.cakevpns.
Pacific VPN: This has a name of com.protectvpn.freeapp.
eVPN: It is known as com.abcd.evpnfree.
BeatPlayer: It comes as com.crrl.beatplayers.
QR / Barcode Scanner MAX: It is called com.bezrukd.qrcodebarcode.

3. FluBot

This malware is an Android botnet distributed through phishing SMS, emails, messages and more. Aside from this, it also impersonates logistics delivery brands. You might acquire this by tapping the links inside unknown and unsolicited message. By clicking the links, FluBot will be installed and access all the sensitive information on your phone.

How Do Mobile Devices Acquire Malware?

For detailed information on how your device gets infected by malwares, Security Metrics has shared the various ways:

Malware can be acquired through downloading some malicious apps.
Mobile phones that do not have updated Software are also vulnerable.
Users opening suspicious emails are also exposed to the Malware.
Mobile users accessing non-secure Wi-Fi or URLs.

How to Protect Mobile Device from Malware?

On a positive note, there are ways that your mobile devices can be protected from malwares accessing data.

Using a VPN: This is known as the virtual private network, which is a secure network that lets users share and access information over public Wi-Fi networks.
Do not jailbreak the device: Through jailbreaking the device, built-in securities will be removed from the mobile device. Jailbreaking may allow users to do more with their device, but it will also expose your mobile to malware.
Download apps from known sources: As mentioned, apps downloaded from an unknown source may contain malware.
Encrypt your data: Encrypted data will protect sensitive information on the mobile device.
Update device software and hardware: Mobile device must be have an updated software and hardware to address potential malware.