The Privacy Guide

No more attached links, password guessing, malvertisements, or else, this time, an Android banking trojan has returned with something more exciting yet destructive to target their potential leads. 

You will be shocked to know that the improved trojan is recording the screen of infected devices to see what the user is doing, without disturbing the user. This technique has been incorporated to help malware remain hidden from victims. 

You'll never know what your device has been through!

This was first covered in detail by cybersecurity researchers at ThreatFabric in October 2018. Bian Lian started life as a dropper for other forms of malware, most notably the  Anubis banking malware, because of which thousands and millions of funds are stolen from android users around the world. But then, cybercriminals revamped and changed their skills, by changing and altering some codes, they repurpose the malware into a banking trojan in its own right. 

Now researchers have uncovered the new version of Bian Lian, which gives a clear view that those who are behind this are working on its regular updates to make it more efficient malware and to attract more leads. 

If a particular user downloads any of the malicious app use to deliver Bian Lian, the first-ever thing that application is needed is your permission to use accessibility services and the additional functions this provides. This is very common of all tactics in Android malware that exploits a functionality intended to make the device more comfortable to use. Once a user granted the permission to that application, the malware modules allow it to read, send, and receive text messages and can monitor and also they can make a call. As allowing the BianLian to run overly attacks on banking applications and provide the attacker with the ability to freeze the screen, making the device unstable for the user. The user could not be able to detect malicious activities happening in their machine. 

The new update of BianLian adds the screen recording module allowing the malware to record the screen of the device. This thing will enable cybercriminals to register what the user is viewing. It is a right way of stealing personal information like usernames, passwords, and other confidential information that would enable hackers to gain access to the payment data they want to take. 

The new version of BianLian is equipped with a means of obfuscation that involves what researchers describe as randomly generated garbage in the codebase. The thinking behind this is that the actual functions of this malware are lost among all the codes. Researchers warn that BianLian is still active and is always updating. 

It seems that BianLian is still under active development, even it is not entirely original; it is a beneficial type of malware which is making the family of malware very dangerous. Its codes are based on strategies put it on a par with the other prominent players in the banking malware space said by one of the Android malware analyses. The researcher provides full information and also give the name of targeted apps which are affected by the Bian Lian. 

So you have to be careful that which application are you downloading is it safe to download and is a trustable application or not. And only give permission to that application which is famous. If any use continuously needs your device access, this means there's something wrong with that application.