We have warned before about Android malware that mimics the user interface of apps like Facebook, Uber, and WhatsApp in order to steal victim’s personal information. Now there are reports of a new Trojan virus that attacks Android devices that was earning the hackers behind it $500,000 a day.
In the first half of this year, 1.4 million devices a day were being infected with a new family of malware apps called Hummer. According to Cheetah Mobile Security Lab, each time the malware was installed on a smartphone, the developers made $0.50.
Once a device is infected, Hummer roots it in order to gain administrator privileges. Once it has control, it begins to quietly install apps, including other viruses, and displaying pop up ads. This, of course, consumes a lot of the victim’s data. By one estimate, Hummer can access the network 10,000 times, download 200 apps, and use over 2GB of data.
Unfortunately Hummer is the top Trojan virus in the world right now and can’t be removed with a factory reset or through most antivirus tools, though Cheetah is reported to be able to do so. The best way to avoid Hummer is to only download apps directly from the Google Play Store and to not sideload them from untrusted sources.