TeaBot Android banking Trojan targets banks in Europe

Malware researchers from Cleafy warn of a new Android banking trojan dubbed TeaBot (aka Anatsa) that is targeting banks in Europe.

Malware experts from the Italian cybersecurity firm Cleafy have spotted a new Android banking trojan dubbed TeaBot (aka Anatsa) that is targeting banks in Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

TeaBot malware appeared in the threat landscape at the beginning of January 2021, it is still under development and according to the researchers, it is able to hijack users’ credentials and SMS messages.

The researchers detected on 29th March 2021, for the first time the inclusion of injections against Italian
banks, and in May the malware targeted Belgium and Netherlands banks.

TeaBot supports the main features of Android banking Trojan and like other similar malware families it abuses
Accessibility Services. Below a list of features implemented by the malware:

Ability to perform Overlay Attacks against multiple banks applications to steal login
credentials and credit card information
Ability to send / intercept / hide SMS messages
Enabling keylogging functionalities
Ability to steal Google Authentication codes
Ability to obtain full remote control of an Android device (via Accessibility Services and realtime screen-sharing)

“The main goal of TeaBot is stealing victim’s credentials and SMS messages for enabling frauds scenarios against a predefined list of banks,” reads the analysis published by Cleafy. “Once TeaBot is successfully installed in the victim’s device, attackers can obtain a live streaming of the device screen (on demand) and also interact with it via Accessibility Services.”

The malicious app masquerades as media and shipment services such as TeaTV, VLC MediaPlayer, Mobdro, DHL, and UPS. Upon launching the app it will download and execute a second-stage payload then it tricks the victim into granting it accessibility service permissions.

TeaBot leverages accessibility service permissions to achieve real-time interaction with the compromised device, to record keystrokes, take screenshots, and perform overlay attacks against multiple bank apps to steal sensitive data.

The report published by the experts also includes IoCs for the threat.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Android)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.