The Craftsart Cartoon Photo Tools app, which contained a computer virus, has been removed from the Google Play Store. The app promised to apply graphic effects to photos by asking, on first launch, to connect your Facebook profile. In this way, however, the credentials were transferred to servers identified in Russia, which were probably used by the hackers to collect the data to be then resold to the highest bidder, for phishing and extortion campaigns online.
The discovery comes from the French security researchers of Pradeo, who have identified a single server with a domain registered in Russia, which has been active for seven years and is also used by other malicious apps already removed from the Play Store digital store in the past. Shortly before the censorship, Craftsart Cartoon Photo Tools had been downloaded 100,000 times. Pradeo explained that often behind the development of many apps there are the same actors, who do nothing but change the name of the software and modify a few lines of code, while maintaining their virus nature. In the case of Craftsart Cartoon Photo Tools, the underlying threat is the ‘trojan’ called Facestealer, compiled to steal Facebook login data.
“On some occasions – writes Pradeo – we have even come across cases in which criminals had developed a fully automated app recompilation system”. One of the ways not to fall into the deception of similar apps is to activate the double verification process, also known as two-factor authentication, for your social accounts, but also email addresses. In this way, even if a third party should take over the profile, he will need a temporary code received on the registered and validated mobile number.
Source: Ansa
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