HummingBad Virus Is Causing Epidemic
Yet another important security warning was published last week, this time about a raging epidemic infecting Android devices.
Security specialists Check Point turned the spotlight on a group of Beijing-based cybercriminals. They have infected, according to estimates, more than 10 million Android phones and tablets worldwide with a virus called HummingBad. This is unusually an unwelcome payload from a dodgy free app or a side effect of visiting the wrong website.
Once on board, this varmint takes a serious hold and is impossible to shift without a high degree of specialist knowledge or a full factory reset. Meanwhile, it starts to install unwanted apps, displays spoof adverts and false Google Play screens and uses these to draw in revenue for the gang.
Check Point estimates that they are bringing in 300,000 dollars a month just from those malicious adverts.
There is no straightforward way to determine if a device has caught a dose of HummingBad. However, if it is randomly displaying adverts, otherwise behaving erratically and draining its battery faster than usual, then this could be a sign or infection.
To avoid HummingBad, it is essential not to download apps from anywhere other than Google Play or absolutely reputable, household name websites. When it comes to browsing web pages, only those that are known with certainty to be bona fide should be visited.
Also, the time has come when it is vital to have security software apps on Android phones and tablets as well as computers. Amongst these, the most consistently highly rated products for the task are Anity AVL, Avast, BitDefender, ESET, Kapersky and Qihoo 360.
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