Avast antivirus developers have published information about a computer network with installed hacker software, which over the course of three years has infected about 800 thousand Android smartphones of Russian banks’ customers. The damage from the activities of the botnet is estimated at several million euros.
According to the source, the Geost botnet included 13 servers and hundreds of malicious domains. The network was a complex infrastructure of infected Android smartphones with remote control. Criminals could gain access to users ’SMS messages,“ communicate ”with banking applications and redirect device traffic to their own sites. Allegedly, about 800 thousand gadget users suffered from the activities of cybercriminals, in the total loss of several million euros from bank accounts.
To coordinate their activities, hackers used a proxy network that does not have encryption – this allowed them to calculate. Avast Threats Lab experts gained access to the correspondence of attackers, the study of which revealed that they were engaged in money laundering.
“We got an unprecedented understanding of how such groups work. Since they were unable to hide their actions, we were able to see not only malware samples, but also understand how hackers work, ”said Anna Shirokova, Avast researcher.
The company’s results were presented at the Virus Bulletin conference in London. The current status of the botnet servers is not reported.
Must Read: Top 9 Best Hacking Apps 2019 Hacker’s Used