All news with #mobile security tag

🔔 CISA has added one vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog: CVE-2025-21042, an out-of-bounds write in Samsung mobile devices that CISA reports is being actively exploited. This class of flaw can enable code execution or device compromise and poses a significant risk to the federal enterprise. Under BOD 22-01, Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies must remediate listed KEVs by required due dates. CISA strongly urges all organizations to prioritize timely remediation and to apply vendor updates and mitigations without delay.

📱 The Swiss NCSC warns of smishing attacks that impersonate Apple's Find My team, telling owners their lost iPhone has been found to lure them to a fake login page. Messages can cite device details visible on the lock screen and use the displayed contact info to target victims. The counterfeit pages request the user's Apple ID and password, which attackers then use to remove Activation Lock. Users should enable Lost Mode, avoid unsolicited links, use a dedicated contact email, and protect their SIM with a PIN.

🔒 A threat actor exploited a Samsung Android image-processing zero-day, CVE-2025-21042, to deliver a previously unknown spyware called LandFall using malicious DNG images sent over WhatsApp. Researchers link activity back to at least July 23, 2024, and say the campaign targeted select Galaxy models in the Middle East. Unit 42 found a loader and a SELinux policy manipulator in the DNG files that enabled privilege escalation, persistence, and data exfiltration. Users are advised to apply patches promptly, disable automatic media downloads, and enable platform protection features.

🔒 A now-patched out-of-bounds write in libimagecodec.quram.so (CVE-2025-21042, CVSS 8.8) was used as a zero-click vector to deliver commercial-grade Android spyware known as LANDFALL. The campaign appears to have used malicious DNG images sent via WhatsApp to extract and load a shared library that installs the spyware. Unit 42 links activity to targets in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Morocco and notes samples dating back to July 2024. The exploit also deployed a secondary module to modify SELinux policy for persistence and elevated privileges.

🔒 Samsung Knox is a built-in security platform for Samsung Galaxy devices that combines hardware- and software-level protections to safeguard enterprise data and provide IT teams with centralized control. It layers defenses — including AI-powered malware detection, curated app controls, Message Guard for zero-click image scanning, and DEFEX exploit detection — while integrating with EMMs and offering granular update management via Knox E-FOTA. The platform emphasizes visibility, policy enforcement, and predictable lifecycle management to reduce risk and operational disruption.

📱 Security researchers at Zscaler report a 67% year-on-year rise in Android-targeted malware after finding 239 malicious apps on Google Play that were downloaded 42 million times. The analysis covers more than 20 million mobile requests observed between June 2024 and May 2025 and highlights productivity and Tools apps as common vectors. Sectors such as manufacturing and energy were disproportionately targeted, with the energy sector seeing a 387% spike in mobile attacks.

🔒 A Zscaler report found 239 malicious Android apps on Google Play that were downloaded a combined 42 million times between June 2024 and May 2025, driven largely by adware, spyware, and banking trojans. Telemetry shows a 67% year-over-year increase in mobile-targeted malware, with adware now comprising roughly 69% of detections and spyware up 220% YoY. Zscaler highlights evolving strains such as Anatsa, Android Void, and Xnotice, and advises timely updates, strict app permissions, disabling unnecessary Accessibility access, and regular Play Protect scans.

🔒 Cybersecurity researchers CYFIRMA and independent analyst F6 have disclosed two active Android trojans—BankBot‑YNRK and DeliveryRAT—that harvest financial and device data from compromised phones. BankBot‑YNRK impersonates an Indonesian government app, performs device fingerprinting and anti-emulation checks, abuses accessibility services to steal credentials and automate transactions, and communicates with a command server. DeliveryRAT, promoted via a Telegram bot, lures Russian users with fake delivery and marketplace apps and delivers malware-as-a-service variants that collect notifications, SMS and call logs and can hide their launchers. Users should avoid untrusted APKs, review permissions, and keep devices updated—Android 14 reduces some accessibility-based abuses.

📱Zimperium reports a sharp rise in Android apps abusing Host Card Emulation (HCE) to steal contactless payment card data across Eastern Europe. Researchers observed over 760 malicious APKs and 70+ command-and-control servers that capture EMV fields, respond to POS APDU commands, or forward requests to remote servers. Variants include data exfiltration to Telegram, relay toolkits, 'ghost-tap' real-time HCE manipulation, and fake payment apps impersonating Google Pay and regional banks. Users are advised to avoid sideloading APKs, restrict NFC permissions, run Play Protect, and disable NFC when not in use.

🔒 Android applies layered Google AI to anticipate and block mobile scams before they reach users. Built-in protections—such as Google Messages spam filtering and on-device Scam Detection, plus Phone by Google automatic call blocking and Call Screen—identify conversational scam patterns and surface real-time warnings. Android blocks over 10 billion suspected malicious calls and messages monthly and recently stopped more than 100 million suspicious numbers from using RCS. Protections are ephemeral, on-device where possible, and continuously updated to adapt to evolving threats.

📱 Google says built-in scam defenses on Android prevent more than 10 billion suspected malicious calls and messages every month and have blocked over 100 million suspicious numbers from using RCS. The company uses on-device artificial intelligence to filter likely spam into the "spam & blocked" folder in Google Messages and recently rolled out safer link warnings for flagged messages. Analysis of user reports in August 2025 identified employment fraud as the most common scam type, while scammers increasingly employ group-message tactics and time-of-day scheduling to increase success rates.

⚠️ Herodotus, a new Android banking trojan, has been observed conducting device takeover (DTO) attacks in Italy and Brazil and was advertised as a malware‑as‑a‑service supporting Android 9–16. According to ThreatFabric, it abuses accessibility services and overlay screens to steal credentials and SMS 2FA, intercept the screen, and install remote APKs. Uniquely, operators added randomized typing delays (300–3000 ms) to mimic human input and evade behaviour‑based anti‑fraud detections.

🛡️ Herodotus is a newly observed Android malware family offered as a MaaS that deliberately mimics human input timing to evade behavior-based detection. Threat Fabric says operators likely linked to Brokewell are distributing a dropper via smishing targeting Italian and Brazilian users. The installer requests Accessibility access and uses deceptive overlays to hide permission flows while a built-in "humanizer" inserts randomized 0.3–3s delays between keystrokes to imitate human typing. Users should avoid sideloading APKs, enable Play Protect, and promptly review or revoke Accessibility permissions for unfamiliar apps.

🔒 At Pwn2Own Ireland 2025, researchers from Mobile Hacking Lab and Summoning Team successfully exploited a Samsung Galaxy S25 using a five‑vulnerability chain to achieve code execution. The findings, credited to Ken Gannon and Dimitrios Valsamaras, were surrendered to Samsung under the event's coordinated disclosure rules. Hours later a second team, Interrupt Labs, used an improper input validation bug to seize camera and location access. Each team received $50,000; Samsung has 90 days to issue fixes.

📱 The 2025 Verizon Mobile Security Index underscores growing danger as mobile devices account for the majority of global internet traffic and increasingly serve as primary attack surfaces. Check Point highlights the rise of AI-powered threats, persistent phishing, and human error that expand exposure. Organizations must rethink security architectures, strengthen endpoint controls, and adopt AI-aware defenses across apps, devices, and identities to reduce risk.

👪 The early teen years are pivotal for digital development, and trust between parents and teens matters more than any single setting. Tools like Family Link and YouTube’s supervised experience are valuable, but parents juggling multiple children, apps and devices need simpler solutions—AI assistants could configure age- and app-specific controls. Rather than blanket bans, the piece calls for thoughtful restrictions developed with parents, schools and communities alongside independent digital literacy standards.

🔍 A new side‑channel attack called Pixnapping allows a permissionless Android app to infer and reconstruct on‑screen pixels and steal sensitive content such as one‑time authentication codes, chat messages, and emails. The technique abuses Android intents and SurfaceFlinger compositing to isolate and enlarge individual pixels, then uses a GPU compression side channel to leak visual data. The proof‑of‑concept from a team of seven U.S. university researchers works on modern Pixel and Samsung devices and can extract 2FA codes in under 30 seconds; Google issued an initial mitigation (CVE‑2025‑48561) in September that was bypassed, and a broader fix is planned for December 2025, with Samsung committing to patches as well.

📱 A new Android spyware campaign called ClayRat is tricking users by posing as well-known apps and services such as WhatsApp, Google Photos, TikTok, and YouTube and distributing APKs via Telegram channels and fraudulent websites. Researchers at Zimperium say they documented over 600 samples and 50 distinct droppers in three months, noting that some use a session-based installation and encrypted payloads to bypass Android defenses. Once installed, ClayRat can assume the default SMS handler, exfiltrate SMS and call logs, capture notifications and front-camera photos, make calls, send mass SMS for propagation, and communicate with C2 servers (recent versions use AES-GCM); Play Protect now blocks known variants.

📱 A new Android spyware campaign known as ClayRat has been observed targeting users in Russia through fake app installers and Telegram channels. Operators impersonate popular apps such as WhatsApp, TikTok, Google Photos, and YouTube to trick victims into sideloading APKs or running lightweight droppers that reveal hidden encrypted payloads. Once active, the malware requests default SMS status and can exfiltrate SMS, call logs, notifications, device details, take photos, and even send messages or place calls while automatically propagating to contacts. Zimperium reports roughly 600 samples and 50 droppers detected in the last 90 days, with continuous obfuscation to evade defenses.

🔔 A fast-evolving Android spyware campaign dubbed ClayRat has produced over 600 samples and 50 droppers in three months, researchers say. The malware is distributed via phishing sites and Telegram channels that impersonate popular apps like TikTok, YouTube and Google Photos to trick users into sideloading infected APKs. Once granted SMS privileges, ClayRat can read and send messages, harvest contacts and call logs, take front-camera photos, exfiltrate data to C2 servers, and automatically text malicious links to all contacts, turning each compromised device into a propagation hub.