Pierluigi Paganini August 10, 2019

Experts at Dr Web discovered that a set of Android Apps with over 100 million installations that contains a clicker Trojan tracked as Android.Click.312.origin.

Malware researchers at antivirus firm Dr Web discovered more than 33 Android Apps in the Google Play Store with over 100 million installations that contain a clicker Tojan tracked as Android.Click.312.origin.

The apps were all functional and include common applications like dictionaries, online maps, audio players, and barcode scanners.

“The Trojan is a malicious module that, according to Dr.Web classification, is named Android.Click.312.origin . It is built into ordinary applications – dictionaries, online maps, audio players, barcode scanners and other software.” reads the analysis published by the experts. “All these programs are workable, and for owners of Android devices look harmless. In addition, upon their launch, Android.Click.312.origin starts malicious activity after only 8 hours, so as not to cause suspicion among users.”

To avoid detection, the apps start any malicious activity after 8 hours from their installation.

Once executed, Android.Click.312.origin gather information about the infected system and sent it back to the C2. Data collected by the malware include manufacturer and model, OS version, country of residence of the user, the default language of the system, user agent identifier, name of mobile operator, type of internet connection, screen options, time zone, and information about the tainted application containing the Trojan.

The Command & Control server, in turn, sends the necessary settings to the malware.

The Trojan remains active in the memory of infected devices and allows to execute multiple malicious activities such as advertising applications on Google Play, downloading any sites, displaying advertisements or other content, subscribing users to expensive premium services.

“Doctor Web specialists were unable to recreate the conditions for the Trojan to download such sites, however, the potential implementation of this fraudulent scheme in the case of Android.Click.312.origin is quite simple. Since the Trojan informs the management server about the type of current Internet connection, if a connection is made through the mobile operator’s network, the server can send a command to open the website of one of the partner services that support WAP-Click technology.” continues the report.”This technology simplifies the connection of various premium services, but it is often used to illegally subscribe users to premium services.”

Every time the user installs a new app on the infected device via the Play Store or from an APK installer, the malicious code will inform the C2 server that in turn reply with URLs to open in a browser, an invisible WebView, or in the Play Store.

The researchers found 34 applications containing the Android.Click.312.origin installed by over 51.7 million users. Researchers also discovered a variant of the Trojan, named Android.Click.313.origin , that downloaded by at least 50,000,000 people. The total number of mobile device owners threatened by this Trojan exceeded 101.7 million. The following is a list of programs in which this clicker was found:

The company removed several of the reported apps, while a number of them got updated and had the malicious module removed.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Clicker Trojan, hacking)

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