"Hummingbad" infecting Millions of Android device now

A new malware had recently been discovered, which infected more than 100 million of Android devices. First discovered by Check point last February, they painstakingly track this malware that lead them t o a group of cybercriminals from China. This malware was named “Hummingbad.”

Yingmob, was responsible for this malware “Hummingbad”, which is a Chinese ad server, is said to generate about $300,000 monthly of revenues using a fraudulent ad and effectively controls millions of Android devices around the world.

This malware, enables a root access of the Android devices that will result in fraudulent ad revenue, and can install addition fraudulent apps.

The most Android version infected by this malware is KitKat which is about 50%, then followed Jellybean that is about 40%, about 7% that runs Lollipop, 2% on Android Ice Cream Sandwich and 1% for the Android Marshmallow.

Since, the Android device is rooted, the group can create a botnet, which will carry out the targeted attacks on government agencies or business sector, and even sell this access to other cybercriminals, according to the report of Check Point.

Android devices, can be infected by browsing websites that contains this malware, which will attempt to take control the device through “root access”. If the malware fails, it will then send a fake update notifications to further attempts to trick the user to grant malware system-level permission. Photos to password are most at risk once the malware infects the device.

According to Check Point, Android users must install anti-virus software, always check root permission, and keep the software, including apps up-to-date.