Ransomware-generating Android apps

Are you a hacker? Here is some good news, you don’t have to write, or know how to write, a single line of code to create your own ransomware that can penetrate Android devices. You are only a few taps away from having all that!

Researchers over at Symantec have revealed the most dreadful news regarding Android security by announcing that there is a Trojan Development Kit (TDK) that can create ransomware through user interface with no coding skills whatsoever.

TDKs were first discovered earlier this year, so this recent discovery is considered to be a continuation of the trend, according to a Threat Analysis Engineer at Symantec.

The numbers of ransomware generating apps are growing at a rapid rate, increasing, by default, the scale of threats that Android users are facing.

Not so hard to find, the latest TDK, like its older brothers, can be found in famous hacking forums, and sometimes it will appear in front of you in a social media ad especially if you are in China. All you have to do is download the APK, install it, and you are ready to have your ransomware! And using the generated app after is super simple too, just enter your ransom message, and an unlock key to send to your victims, choose an icon for the ransom app, set the operations that will randomize the code, a little animation that will appear on the abducted device, and congratulations, you are now a hacker!

Once installed on a device the newly generated ransomware will behave much like the most famous ransomware since 2014 “Lockdroid”. So while the app-generated ransomware is has nothing new to do, its threat comes from the fact that they can be so easily generated by non-code experienced, regular people.

The only thing making those generators a little bit harder to be used by everyone is that most of these apps have their interfaces written in Chinese. Then again, don’t expect the threat to remain away for a long time as it is noted in the article released by Symantec researchers that it would be quite easy to change the language of the interface.

Of course any talk about keeping your devices and data safe in such a dangerous environment will sound useless, but being careful is always better than being sorry. There are a few simple things to be as assured as possible of your device’s security and the first and most important of those is to always keep your device up-to-date, apply security patches to it once they get released, and NEVER install apps to your device from out of Google Play Store.

Editorial Staff

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