Covid19 Tracker: Uninstall this app now, it’s dangerous ransomware!

We’ve been telling you for a few weeks and we’re repeating it: Pay attention to what the coronavirus means in terms of cybersecurity. The more global impact an event has, the more hackers and ideas they have to exploit the situation. Covid19 TrackerA seemingly harmless app is one of thousands of coronavirus outbreak monitoring apps.

Better to settle for Play Store during the coronavirus epidemic

Although there is no Covid19 Tracker in Play Store, many users have downloaded and installed this APK. Application offers to alert you especially when a case of coronavirus is detected near you. Of course, this rather unique feature was enough to convince many people. However, there are obviously a few things that might have given you a tip.

First, the official data on infected people is not that precise, and therefore telling you whether new infected people have been detected near you is complicated: at best, you will have the numbers of the nearest hospitals. Then there is the behavior of the app on the smartphone. Covid19 Tracker really needs notifications to work.

However, granting authorization would result in exploitation of a defect, and install ransomware on device. This malicious program was called CovidLock “It uses techniques to prevent the victim from accessing their smartphone by forcing them to make a change to the password used to unlock the phone. This is also known as a screen lock attack and we’ve seen this process in other Android ransomware.Notes Domain Tools.

When ransomware is active, a screen (see screenshot at the end of the article) is displayed and requires the following: Bitcoins equivalent of $100 payment within 48 hours to unlock the smartphone. If necessary, hackers threaten to delete your contacts, photos and videos and even leak your social network identifiers to the network. Domain Tools ends with advice on how to avoid falling into the trap of such campaigns:

• Only go through Google Play Store to minimize risk
• Consult reliable sources such as WHO, major newspapers, and French and European Union government sites
• Do not click on coronavirus-related links received by email

How’s your lockdown going? Feel free to chat a little in the comments!

Source : Domain Tools