'Most advanced mobile botnet EVER' is coming for your OFFICE Androids

  • 19 November 2014
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By John Leyden
   
A newly discovered variant of NotCompatible is establishing what has been called the most advanced mobile botnet yet created.
Security researchers at Lookout warn that the latest version of the Android malware is capable of infiltrating secure enterprise networks via compromised devices. NotCompatible uses a peer-to-peer control technique normally associated with only the most advanced Windows PC zombie networks. This makes the mobile malware both stealthier and harder to take down.
 
   http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/19/android_botnet_notcompatible/

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11/19/2014  Ericka Chickowski
 
New report on what researchers call one of the 'most sophisticated mobile botnets online' shows how profitable mobile malware has become.
 A new report out today shows how mobile malware and mobile botnets are quickly catching up in sophistication with their PC brethren. Researchers at Lookout call this malware family one of the most sophisticated mobile botnets running online today.
 
Dubbed NotCompatible, the botnet and the mobile malware family that drives it turn mobile devices into TCP proxies that can be used in any number of creative ways, including to send spam, commit click fraud, employ brute-force passwords, and initiate fraudulent ticket purchases. That's not anything new, but what makes this threat different is the level of sophistication in the backend of NotCompatible to resist reverse engineering and takedown efforts by the security community.
 
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21 November 2014
 
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/79172000.jpg/_79172486_168808538.jpgAndroid has become a popular target for malicious programs Hundreds of thousands of Android phones have been infected with malware that uses handsets to send spam and buy event tickets in bulk.
Mobile security firm Lookout said the bug, called NotCompatible, was the most sophisticated it had seen.
The cyberthieves behind the bug had recently rewritten its core code to make it harder to defeat, it said.
Mobile malware aimed at smartphones is steadily getting more complex, said security company Wandera.
Jeremy Linden, a security analyst at Lookout, said: "The group behind NotCompatible are operating on a different plane to the typical mobile malware maker."
 
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By Peter Gothard  24 Nov 2014  The NotCompatible Android malware has evolved into a significant threat, mobile security firm Lookout has warned.
Lookout says that over the past two years the malware has mutated from the "relatively simplistic" architecture of NotCompatible.A into NotCompatible.C, which "has set a new bar for mobile malware sophistication and operational complexity".
 
It is, says Lookout, "an earthworm with its tail cut off that regenerates and thrives", and sports a command infrastructure that "perseveres and self-protects through redundancy and encryption, making it elusive and enduring".
The virus is currently only used as a proxy to "run spam campaigns or scalp concert tickets" but Lookout believes its use "could expand to assist in attacks on corporate networks".
NotCompatible.C is more like the type of malware used "by PC-based cybercriminals", said Lookout.
 
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