IOS, Google get pilfered with photo stealing apps

Gang,

We’ve talked about this type of thing before, and maybe we’ll see more of this. How these apps which are talked about got in here are unclear, as Apple is supposed to review each app. To be fair, I don’t know what that process is like, but Android I believe is more immediate.

A new mobile crypto-stealing malware called SparkKitty was found in apps on Google Play and the Apple App Store, targeting Android and iOS devices.

The malware is a possible evolution of SparkCat, which Kaspersky discovered in January. SparkCat used optical character recognition (OCR) to steal cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases from images saved on infected devices.

When installing crypto wallets, the installation process tells users to write down the wallet’s recovery phrase and store it in a secure, offline location.

As for crypto stealing which seems to be part of this application set, the article states:

Access to this seed phrase can be used to restore a crypto wallet and its stored assets on another device, making them a valuable target for threat actors.

While taking a screenshot of your seed phrase is never a good idea, some people do so for convenience.

A report by Kaspersky says that the new SparkKitty malware indiscriminately steals all images from an infected device’s photo gallery.

I don’t think any of us will ever need apps like this, and we get apps that are trusted and well-known. Even when its a new app, someone has beta tested first before putting it in a directory.

Malware on Google Play, Apple App Store stole your photos—and crypto is the article here.

How many have seen this and how did you react when you saw this? How did you recover from this when you found out what it was doing?


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