In association with heise online

23 December 2011, 10:35

Android trojan sends revolution messages

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • submit to slashdot
  • StumbleUpon
  • submit to reddit

Android Phone icon According to a report from security specialist Symantec, hacktivists are spreading a manipulated version of a popular Islamic compass app for Android called AlSalah that secretly sends text messages with links to political messages. To do this, the app installs a service that sends a randomly selected link to one of 18 forum posts to all contacts in the infected mobile phone's address book. The content is the same in all of the posts: a tribute to Mohamed Bouazizi, the street vendor who became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution when he set himself on fire last year.

If the app determines that the smartphone is in the Kingdom of Bahrain, it attempts to download a PDF document, a report from a commission investigating allegations of human rights violations. Symantec says that the manipulated version was only distributed in forums related to the Middle East; the official version of the app in the Android Market is not affected.

(crve)

Print Version | Send by email | Permalink: http://h-online.com/-1400658
 


  • July's Community Calendar





The H Open

The H Security

The H Developer

The H Internet Toolkit