The Next Wave of Mobile Banking Threats Is Already Here
Mobile banking threats have been recently making an impact, both at the regional as well as
global levels. EventBot, the newly identified Android banking trojan, can be considered as a
forward leap in the evolution of mobile banking trojans. EventBot abuses Android’s
accessibility feature to access and steal valuable user information and system information. It
can also intercept SMS messages and bypass two-factor authentication mechanisms. But that
is not the only capability that makes it unique. It targets more than 200 different financial
applications like PayPal, Coinbase, Barclays, Santander UK, HSBC UK and many more., that
are commonly used in countries like the US, the UK, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France,
Germany, Ireland, India, Austria, Australia, and Poland.
EventBot developers seem to be actively involved in its development, as there were four
different versions identified, each version bringing in new functionalities and obfuscation
techniques. This makes researchers believe that EventBot could become the next big mobile
threat. Besides the global threats like EventBot, a large number of mobile threats have been
recently observed, that are actively targeting financial institutions within a specific region.
In April 2020, the Mandrake Spyware was observed targeting Mobile banking users in
Australia, targeting Android-based applications from financial organizations like ANZ
Australia, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bank of Melbourne Mobile Banking, Bank of
SA, Australian Super, and PayPal. In March 2020, an Android banking Trojan dubbed Geost
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was found targeting Russian banks, with the victim count at over 800,000 users. In February
2020, the infamous Ginp Banker Trojan was observed targeting users in Spain. It was equipped
with a highly unconventional function of inserting fake text messages into the Inbox of a
regular SMS app, along with the capability to intercept and send SMS to bypass One-TimePassword OTP based authentication.In order to prevent it, avoid downloading apps unknown
source and download apps only from the official app stores like Google Play. Pay attention to
permissions requested by apps, genuine apps should not be asking for access to SMS. Users
should also use a genuine anti-malware solution for mobile, and also keep an eye on the
changes in their devices, such as the decreased performance or battery life, which may indicate
malicious behaviour.
– taken from Cyware Social (May, 2020)
Question 1
Based on the article above, discuss in detail the potential repercussion of the attack towards ecommerce customer worldwide
