Telecom
New Android Trojan Hijacks Facebook Accounts
A previously unseen Android Trojan dubbed FlyTrap has targeted at least 140 countries since March this year, spreading to more than 10 000 victims via social media hijacking, third-party app stores, and sideloaded applications.
This was revealed by Zimperium’s zLabs mobile threat research teams, who recently found several previously undetected applications using the company’s z9 malware engine and on-device detection.
After a forensic investigation, the researchers ascertained that FlyTrap is part of a family of Trojans that use social engineering to compromise Facebook accounts. They also believe that bad actors out of Vietnam are running the campaign.
Initially, these Trojans were distributed through both Google Play and third-party application stores. Zimperium zLabs reported the findings to Google, who verified the provided research and removed the malware from the Google Play store.
Unfortunately, they are still available on third-party, unsecured app repositories, highlighting the risk of sideloaded applications to mobile endpoints and user data. Sideloading is the process of downloading and installing apps onto a mobile device from an unofficial source.
What it does
FlyTrap poses a threat to the victim’s social identity by hijacking their Facebook accounts via the Trojan that infects their Android device. The information collected from the victim’s Android device includes Facebook ID, location, e-mail, IP address, and cookies and tokens associated with the accounts in question.
Hijacked Facebook sessions can be used to spread the malware by abusing the target’s social credibility through personal messaging containing links to the Trojan, as well as propagating propaganda or disinformation campaigns using the victim’s geolocation details.
According to the researchers, these social engineering techniques are very effective in today’s digital world and are often employed by attackers to spread malware.
How it works
The malefactors employed a variety of themes they believed users would find appealing such as free Netflix coupon codes, Google AdWords coupon codes, and voting for the best football (soccer) team or player.
At first available through Google Play and third-party stores, the application fooled users into downloading and trusting the application using high-quality designs and social engineering.
Following installation, FlyTrap displays pages that engage the user and elicit a response from them. “The engagement continues until the user is shown the Facebook login page and asks to log in to their account to cast their vote or collect the coupon code or credits,” the researchers say.
However, this is all yet another trick to mislead the user since no voting or coupon code is generated. Instead, the final screen attempts to justify the fake code by displaying a message claiming the “Coupon expired after redemption and before spending.”
The researchers say that although the popular belief is that a phishing page is always at the vanguard of compromising or hijacking an account, there are other ways to hijack sessions, such as by logging into the original and legitimate domain.
This Trojan exploits one such technique known as JavaScript injection. “Using this technique, the application opens the legit URL inside a WebView configured with the ability to inject JavaScript code and extracts all the necessary information such as cookies, user account details, location, and IP address by injecting malicious JS code.”
Exploiting misconceptions
Bad actors often leverage common user misconceptions that logging into the correct domain is always secure regardless of the application being used to log in. “The targeted domains are popular social media platforms and this campaign has been exceptionally effective in harvesting social media session data of users from 144 countries.”
In addition, these accounts can be employed as a botnet for a variety of purposes, including boosting the popularity of pages, sites or products, to spreading misinformation or political propaganda.
Much like any user manipulation, the high-quality graphics and official-looking login screens are popular schemes to trick users into taking action that could reveal sensitive information.
Ongoing threats against mobile devices
According to the researchers, FlyTrap is simply another example of the ongoing, active threats against mobile devices that aim to steal credentials.
“Mobile endpoints are often treasure troves of unprotected login information to social media accounts, banking applications, enterprise tools, and more. The tools and techniques used by FlyTrap are not novel but are effective due to the lack of advanced mobile endpoint security on these devices.”
The company advises to be vigilant for any red flags which might indicate a phone has been hacked or infected with mobile malware, including a battery that runs out too quickly, relentless pop-ups, or strange applications that the user hasn’t downloaded.
In addition, any degradation of performance, or airtime and other cellular charges that make no sense are something to be wary of.
Protecting devices
Zimperium’s zLabs advises users to protect themselves and their devices by only downloading apps or updating apps via official app stores, and never clicking on a WhatsApp or SMS link that attempts to trick the user into updating an app, downloading an app or installing anything.
The company also advises to be aware of mobile phishing, and links to sites that are trying to steal personal information, such as username and passwords. Also, it says to never root or jailbreak a device as this negates the built-in security, and advises to install a good anti-malware app.
Finally, be selective about what is downloaded. Anyone who suspects their device is infected should attempt to remove the suspicious app. They could attempt to go back in time and restore the device as a new device from a previous backup or if it’s still persistent they may need to do a full reset.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has charged the over 174 million telecoms subscribers in the country to constantly monitor their data usage to authenticate their consumption level.
This follows concerns being raised by telecoms consumers about the rapidity of data depletion on their devices.
The Commission particularly enjoined the consumers to always contact their service providers to make requests for cases of discrepancies noted in their data usage.
While the consumers are expected to contact their service providers to request for their usage history/statement where inconsistency exists in their data usage as first step, the Commission said they may also escalate such issues to the Commission through its toll-free Number 622 and social media platforms, especially if their requests are not satisfactorily handled.
The Commission, which also made some clarifications regarding the concerns being raised by the consumers around data usage, said the need to inform the consumers on their concerns is part of its commitment to protect and appropriately inform and educate the telecom consumer on industry issues.
Making further clarifications around data speed and usage, the Commission said data speed is the speed at which data is transferred between two devices, measured in megabits per second (Mbps or mbps), stressing that given the spread of Internet services and the immense investment in the sector, data rates have continued to increase and users may be unaware of how to measure data speed.
The telecoms regulator explained further that websites such as www.fast.com also provide an easy way for consumers to measure Internet speed on any device at any location.
“The higher the data speed, the quicker pages load-downloads and uploads-occur and expectedly, the quicker data bundles are exhausted. So, as telecom consumers are able to do more on devices in less time, some consumers’ devices & network service providers make it possible to limit data speed to help users manage data usage better.
“In any case, most devices now include functions to measure data used by devices and it is imperative that users monitor same to authenticate data usage, such as applications left running on devices. Therefore, where discrepancies occur users may contact their service provider to request for their usage history/statement. If request is not dealt with satisfactorily then, users can contact NCC by calling 622 or engage the Commission via its social media platforms”.
It added that the data usage experience is a function of location, network equipment and users connected in a particular location.
Association of Mobile Communication Device Technicians of Nigeria (AMCODET), has called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to make it mandatory for mobile phones to be registered at the point of purchase.
According to Kehinde Apara, president of AMCODET, implementing this registration process would significantly help in combating phone theft and assist in locating stolen devices.
Apara, made this appeal in an interview in Lagos on Monday.
He stated, “Registration of mobile phones will reduce theft to the barest minimum, as it will be difficult for thieves to sell registered stolen phones.”
Apara explained that the registration of new phones would also help to reduce the harassment faced by technicians by security agencies.
“So many of our members have been labelled accomplices in theft cases, because customers bring stolen phones to them to repair. We believe this is unfair to such innocent people,” he said.
He went on to highlight that the NIN-SIM linkage, which was originally an idea brought forward by AMCODET, was created to curb insecurity and theft.
However, Apara pointed out that “It is not enough.”
He stressed the need for further measures to ensure the proper registration of mobile phones, emphasising that such a step would make it easier for technicians to identify stolen devices brought in for repair or flashing.
“AMCODET has been at the forefront of organising seminars on the security of mobile phones and has also been sensitising the public and authorities on the challenges faced by the association due to phone theft. There is no way our members can identify if a phone is stolen when brought to them for repairs or flashing, but if the phone is registered, the technician can more easily identify it,” he explained.
Apara also expressed a desire for closer collaboration with security agencies, saying, “We want to work with security agencies to ensure that phones are properly registered, theft is prevented, and thieves are brought to book.”
In additin to the call for phone registration, Apara appealed to individuals and the private sector to support efforts to develop the mobile phone industry in Nigeria.
He remarked, “We need individuals’ support to develop our industry, rather than relying on government for everything.”
He emphasised that Nigeria has the capacity to develop its own technology and reduce reliance on imported devices, “With the support of individuals and the private sector, Nigerians can begin to develop its own technology, rather than relying on imported technology.”
Apara expressed optimism for the future of the mobile phone industry in Nigeria, believing that with the right support, the country could build its own technological solutions and move towards greater self-reliance.
“We can develop our own technology.”
“But we need the support of individuals and organisations to make it happen,” he said.
Credit: NAN
French antitrust regulators have fined Apple 150 million euros ($162 million) over its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature, which is facing scrutiny in multiple European countries.
The French Competition Authority ruled that Apple’s implementation of ATT was “neither necessary nor proportionate to the company’s stated goal to protect user data” and unfairly penalized third-party publishers.
Alongside the financial penalty, Apple has been ordered to publish the decision on its website for seven days. The ruling comes amid ongoing investigations in Germany, Italy, Romania, and Poland into ATT, which Apple introduced in 2021 as a privacy safeguard.
ATT requires apps to obtain explicit user consent via a pop-up before tracking activity across other apps and websites. If users decline, the app loses access to their advertising identifier, limiting targeted advertising. Critics argue that the system disproportionately benefits Apple by restricting competitors while promoting its own advertising services.
The French watchdog found that ATT forces users to navigate excessive consent windows for third-party apps on iPhones and iPads, making the process unnecessarily complicated.
Additionally, Apple’s system requires users to opt out of ad tracking twice rather than once, which the authority said undermines the feature’s neutrality and causes economic harm to app publishers and ad service providers.
The ruling emphasized that smaller publishers, which rely heavily on third-party data collection for revenue, are particularly affected.
The French regulator initially declined to impose emergency measures in 2021 after complaints from the advertising industry, but continued its investigation, ultimately leading to Monday’s decision.
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