Harmful Android Virus Steals User Personal Info; Govt Issues Warning!

Strandhogg is a harmful Android virus that has the potential to steal the personal information of users including highly confidential details such as internet banking User ID and Password. The virus is called 'Strandhogg' which has been brought into the attention of cybersecurity wing of Ministry of Home Affairs.

According to the latest reports, a warning alert has been sent to all states and police departments stating that the virus can be infiltrated into genuine apps and cause harm. The information was confirmed by Threat Analytical Unit of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre

How Strandhogg attacks Android Devices?

Experts have predicted the biggest advantage of Strandhogg virus is the weakness of Android's multitasking system. 

As per Livemint, Samir Mody, VP, Cyber Threat Labs, K7 Computing quoted the following statements

"An email app's (app 1) message screen (activity 1) displays a website address which when clicked by the user would open in a browser app's (app 2) screen (activity 2). Suppose a user launches a banking app and clicks on a login button, StrandHogg can be leveraged by a malware already installed on the device to hijack such a task request to display, say, a fake internet banking login page asking the user to insert username and password."

It is said that the virus attacks all the android versions - from version 6 to the recently released Android 10. Generally, once the virus enters an Android system, it tries to gain the login credentials and suggest the users to login (even if a user had logged in before, the virus creates a dummy request to login again).