These apps, disguised as legitimate banking, government and streaming services, infiltrate phones to collect text messages, contacts and stored images, which are then sent to remote servers controlled by the attackers.
Advanced malware uses OCR to extract data from images on compromised devices to recover cryptocurrency wallets. Mnemonic phrases, which are easier for users to remember than complex private keys, are particularly targeted by these apps.
Security expert Sang-Ryol Ryu from McAfee discovered the malware by gaining access to servers with weak security settings and discovered how the attackers used Python and JavaScript to convert stolen images into readable text.
The malware currently primarily affects South Korea but has recently begun spreading to the UK.
Source: Ferra
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