The infamous Ginp banking Trojan, which acquired the ability to insert fake text messages into the inbox of a regular SMS application in March, has now acquired a new functionality that takes advantage of the recent pandemic.
Once installed on the victim's phone, the Ginp Trojan can be instructed by the attacker to open an by clicking here titled “Coronavirus Finder”, which claims that there are people nearby infected with the virus. To find out where these people are, the victim is asked to pay 75 euros.
If the victim agrees, it is transferred to a payment website.
Once the payment details are captured, however, the victim is neither charged that amount nor given information about these "infected" individuals. Instead, his credit information cards have just been handed over to digital criminals.
Ginp is a Trojan that has evolved rapidly since it first appeared, constantly acquiring new features. In addition, while in the past the targets were mainly residents of Spain, the name of this latest version suggests that the attackers plan to target other countries as well.
"Cybercriminals have been trying for months to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis by launching attacks. Phishing and creating malware with a core theme of the coronavirus. This is the first time, however, that we have seen a banking Trojan try to take advantage of the pandemic. It's worrying, especially since Ginp is such an effective Trojan. We encourage them users Android devices to be especially careful at this time and pop-ups, unknown websites and unexpected messages for the coronavirus "They should always be treated with skepticism," said Alexander Eremin, a security expert at Kaspersky.
More information about Ginp can be found at read it in Kaspersky Daily.
To reduce your risk of exposure to Ginp or other banking Trojans, Kaspersky experts recommend:
- "Download" applications only from the official Android Stores.
- Do not click on suspicious links or disclose sensitive information, such as passwords or credit / debit card information.
- Install a reliable security solution on your phone.
