{"id":15353,"date":"2016-06-29T11:00:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T11:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/?p=15353"},"modified":"2020-08-31T12:20:02","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T12:20:02","slug":"godless-android-malware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/godless-android-malware\/","title":{"rendered":"Godless\u2019 Android malware"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u2018Security\u2019 aspects touch all our lives in some way or the other. We would have been victims of security hack at one time or other. Phishing emails, fake social media profiles, credit card fraud \u2013 some of these events may touch us in one way or the other. It is a good idea to prevent against these attacks by being up-to-date on the current Infosec incidents and knowing the ways to avoid them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">With that thought in mind, we will discuss the \u2018Godless\u2019 malware in today\u2019s post.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-US\">Android devices:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">With mobile phone and device usage reaching unprecedented levels, it is but obvious that these devices will be targeted for malicious attacks. \u2018Android\u2019 is Google\u2019s own mobile OS and it accounts for a major market share of the mobile market. According to an analysis from netmarketshare.com, Android grabbed 70.85% of the market share while Apple\u2019s iOS grabbed only 23.10% as of May 2016. (Mobile\/Tablet Operating System Market Share) More users only means, more sophisticated attacks by hackers to fool the user to give more of their personal information. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-US\">Malware or \u201cmalicious software\u201d:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">Viruses, Trojan horse, backdoors are all different terms to describe malware or \u201cmalicious software\u201d. Malware affects the normal functioning of devices and sometimes the user has no way of knowing it. The latest Android malware to strike the mobile and electronic devices is the \u201c<b>Godless<\/b>\u201d malware. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span lang=\"EN-US\">What does it affect?<\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-US\"> The \u201cGodless\u201d malware affects users of Android 5.1(Lollipop) or earlier. Recall, some of Android names as Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice cream sandwich, Jellybean, Kit Kat, Lollipop (5.1), Marshmallow. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">The malware affecting users of Android 5.1 or earlier essentially means more than 90% of Android devices are affected. (\u2018GODLESS\u2019 Mobile Malware Uses Multiple Exploits to Root Devices)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span lang=\"EN-US\">Countries affected by \u2018Godless\u2019 malware:\u00a0 <\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-US\">India is the country that is most affected by \u2018Godless\u2019 malware accounting for 46.19% of affected devices followed by Indonesia, Thailand and other countries. <\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15355\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15355\" style=\"width: 1019px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/godless.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/godless.jpg\" alt=\"godless malware\" width=\"1019\" height=\"606\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15355\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15355\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">godless malware<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b><span lang=\"EN-US\">Popular places where the malware is present: <\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-US\">The Godless malware is present in several app stores inclusive of Google play store. It may be present in simple utility apps such as flashlight or the ever popular games. It fakes an app\u2019s rating and lures genuine users into downloading it. Once the user downloads it, it firmly establishes itself invisibly and makes sure that it cannot be removed. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span lang=\"EN-US\">How does the malware work? <\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-US\">The malware takes advantage of two vulnerabilities in the Android OS and exploits it to \u201croot the device\u201d. It must be noted that rooting the Android device voids the warranty. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">Rooting the device allows you to gain administrative privileges onto the Android phone and one can get deep into the phone itself. The manufacturer restrictions can be changed or removed. We can also overclock or underclock the processor and customize more things on the phone. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">The \u201cGodless\u201d malware does all this and more by infecting an app and then \u201crooting\u201d the phone. The malware can also control the phone remotely and install unwanted apps and generate ads. It can also install backdoors onto the device which can be used to spy on the user.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span lang=\"EN-US\">How to safeguard against different types of malware: <\/span><\/b><span lang=\"EN-US\">It is always wise to download apps only from the Google play store and not from other third party app stores. Before downloading from the Google play store, it is good to check the developer\u2019s information as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-US\">We have seen the \u2018Godless\u2019 Android malware in today\u2019s post. It is safe to say that mobile devices will be the next target for hackers and miscreants.<\/span><\/p>\n<pre><span lang=\"EN-US\">\nBibliography<\/span><\/pre>\n<pre><span lang=\"EN-US\"><i>\u2018GODLESS\u2019 Mobile Malware Uses Multiple Exploits to Root Devices<\/i>. (n.d.). Retrieved from TrendMicro: http:\/\/blog.trendmicro.com\/trendlabs-security-intelligence\/godless-mobile-malware-uses-multiple-exploits-root-devices\/\n<\/span><i><span lang=\"EN-US\">Mobile\/Tablet Operating System Market Share<\/span><\/i><span lang=\"EN-US\">. (n.d.). Retrieved from netmarketshare.com: https:\/\/www.netmarketshare.com\/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8&amp;qpcustomd=1<\/span><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Security\u2019 aspects touch all our lives in some way or the other. We would have been victims of security hack at one time or other. Phishing emails, fake social media profiles, credit card fraud \u2013 some of these events may touch us in one way or the other. It is a good idea to prevent against these attacks by being up-to-date on the current Infosec incidents and knowing the ways to avoid them. With that thought in mind, we will discuss the \u2018Godless\u2019 malware in today\u2019s post. Android devices: With mobile phone and device usage reaching unprecedented levels, it is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[138,783,1469],"class_list":["post-15353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-updates","tag-android","tag-godless-malware","tag-software"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"profile_24":false,"profile_48":false,"profile_96":false,"profile_150":false,"profile_300":false,"tptn_thumbnail":false,"web-stories-poster-portrait":false,"web-stories-publisher-logo":false,"web-stories-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Pavan Gumaste","author_link":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/author\/pavan\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"\u2018Security\u2019 aspects touch all our lives in some way or the other. We would have been victims of security hack at one time or other. Phishing emails, fake social media profiles, credit card fraud \u2013 some of these events may touch us in one way or the other. It is a good idea to prevent&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75859,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15353\/revisions\/75859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whizlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}