A new Android Malware has been discovered by AVG which can be “spying” on the user even when the phone is in “Switch off mode”
Mobile Malware Research Team AVG have discovered a new bug which is of great concern to all the Android smartphone users.
Usually when user shuts down or puts off the Android phone a dialog box opens asking for 3 options: Power Off, Airplane Mode or Mute. Usually user would select the Power Off option and then the Android phone would shut off. Mobile security AVG team discovered that this Malware captures the “root permission” level of the Power Off process. Once this is done the malware will inject the virus so that the entire Power Off process is locked.
With the malware taking over the Power Off process, whenever the victim clicks the Power Off button an artificial dialog pops up and then the entire fake shutdown process takes place which would resemble as if actually the phone is shutting down. However in reality the phone is still active and working.
The Malware can then use the phone to click photos, even make some outgoing calls and anything that it wants to do using the phone. As of now the security team has acknowledged this virus as an “unknown Android Malware” (no name suggested yet) and all the Android users have been warned against this virus. Also the only remedy which can be applied as a safety measure would be to remove battery from the Android phone to ensure 100% switch off of these phones.
Security service providers should come up with a suitable anti-malware for this menace as removing the battery every time to shut down the Android smartphone would not be feasible, if some is infected with the malware.
