Dangerous virus infects millions of mobile phones, popular apps targeted

(Patria) - Private international internet security company Kaspersky has warned of a dangerous virus that has infected as many as 11 million Android users, reports N1.

The virus is the Necro trojan, and users of modified versions of Spotify, WhatsApp, Minecraft, and other popular apps from Google Play are at risk.

This is a trojan that Kaspersky discovered back in 2019. This virus is fully capable of stealing user data.

However, after installation, it can also initiate subscriptions to expensive services without the Android owner suspecting anything.

While investigating the popular music service Spotify, Kaspersky's team noticed an unusual modification of the Spotify Plus app.

Users are invited to download a new version of the app, but from an unofficial source, for free, with an unlocked subscription offering unlimited listening.

However, this is actually malicious software. The team found similar modifications for apps like WhatsApp, Minecraft, and others.

How to protect yourself?

Kaspersky advises never to download applications from unofficial sources, as the risk of downloading a virus this way is extremely high.

Secondly, applications on Google Play and other official platforms should also be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Even a popular app like Wuta Camera, with 10 million downloads, proved powerless against this trojan.

Kaspersky suggests the following concrete steps:

- Protect your device so that the trojan doesn't surprise you. This means downloading reliable tools for protection and recognition of malicious programs;

- Check the app's page in the store before downloading. Also, review the comments, especially those with low ratings, as they most often warn of possible traps.

Positive reviews can be fake, and a high rating can also be inflated;

- Do not look for modified or hacked versions of applications, as they are almost always full of all kinds of trojans - from the most harmless to mobile spyware like CanesSpy.