Obad.a, sophisticated Android trojan

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Obad.a exploits undocumented Android bugs and offers advanced features.


by Dan Goodin - June 7 2013, 3:00pm CDT


Recently discovered malware targeting Android smartphones exploits previously unknown vulnerabilities in the Google operating system and borrows highly advanced functionality more typical of malicious Windows applications, making it the world's most sophisticated Android Trojan, a security researcher said.

The infection, named Backdoor.AndroidOS.Obad.a, isn't very widespread at the moment. The malware gives an idea of the types of smartphone malware that are possible, however, according to Kaspersky Lab expert Roman Unuchek in a blog post published Thursday. Sharply contrasting with mostly rudimentary Android malware circulating today, the highly stealthy Obad.a exploits previously unknown Android bugs, uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections to spread to near-by handsets, and allows attackers to issue malicious commands using standard SMS text messages.

"To conclude this review, we would like to add that Backdoor.AndroidOS.Obad.a looks closer to Windows malware than to other Android trojans, in terms of its complexity and the number of unpublished vulnerabilities it exploits," Unuchek wrote. "This means that the complexity of Android malware programs is growing rapidly alongside their numbers."

Google representatives didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment for this post. The trojan is initially distributed through spammed text messages. There's no indication it's hosted in.....
 
Google representatives didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment for this post. The trojan is initially distributed through spammed text messages. There's no indication it's hosted in the Google Play market for Android apps, so it appears to infect only phones that have been configured to "sideload" apps available from alternative sources

That bit stood out too.

Imagine how great our world could be if humans were just nice creatures *sigh*
 
The command servers also receive detailed data from infected devices, including their phone numbers, carrier names, IMEI numbers, the phone users account balances

This is one of the parts that bugs me the most.

To me that is a serious flaw in the os design and the providers should not want to allow such easy access to a customer's account.

Also
most notably the ability to be remotely controlled by SMS messages sent by malware operators
Is a scary thought as this ability will likely improve with malware writers over time.

Rick
 

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