Nigerians have been alerted by the Nigerian Communications Commission NCC over a new Android malware capable of attacking smartphones.
The NCC in a statement on Tuesday noted that smartphones can be accessed by the malware named ‘AbstractEmu’ and it can take complete control of infected devices.
It could also try to evade detection while simultaneously changing device settings.
In the statement signed by NCC’s spokesman, Ikechukwu Adinde, the communication body said, “This discovery was announced recently by the Nigerian Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT), the national agency established by the Federal Government to manage the risks of cyber threats in Nigeria, which also coordinates incident response and mitigation strategies to proactively prevent cyber-attacks against Nigeria.”
It disclosed that not well-known app marketplaces like Aptoide and APKPure as well as popular platforms such as Google Play Store and third-party stores such as the Amazon Appstore and the Samsung Galaxy Store are used to distribute the malware.
“The advisory stated that a total of 19 Android applications that posed as utility apps and system tools like password managers, money managers, app launchers, and data saving apps have been reported to contain the rooting functionality of the malware,” it said.
To guard against contracting the malware, NCC said a
Smartphone users were urged by NCC to look out for the unusual behaviors of their phones as they use apps.
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It also said users should be careful when installing unknown or unusual apps from marketplaces as some of the apps are virus dangerous to phones.
Smartphones users were further enjoined by the commission to always reset their device’s factory settings whenever they noticed a suspicion of unusual behaviors in their devices.
