Viruses (malware) can be transferred to the cell phone of the computer or PC?

March 22, 2021, by Santiago Comment

After having connected your Android cell phone to a PC via USB cable to transfer files or do something more complex, surely you have ever wondered if there is a possibility that a virus can be passed from the computer to the cell phone. Unfortunately, this is perfectly possible. In fact, there is malware that works just like that, and some can even commit bank fraud.

How viruses are transferred from the computer to the cell phone

For example, the virus Trojan.Droipak, discovered long ago by Symantec, it is initially “installed” on the Windows PC as a DLL file. In addition, it creates a new system service to ensure that it always runs, even when the PC restarts. Once that is done, download from a remote server a malicious APK file Android.Fakebank.B (named after Symantec) and the ADB (Android debug bridge), a tool used to perform actions on an Android device through DOS commands. from the computer.

When you have all this ready, the virus is constantly executing the adb.exe install AV-cdk.apk command with the aim that if at any point an Android device is connected by USB cable to that infected PC, it will secretly install the APK malicious on mobile.

SMS theft and bank fraud

This virus is believed to be designed to commit bank fraud, as it searches the mobile device for bank applications and suggests that the user uninstall them to be replaced by other fraudulent applications. On the other hand, it also intercepts and steals SMS containing transaction authorization information, which is the “authorization” method used by many banks today. Obviously, this could also be directly related to the theft of credit card numbers.

This virus has already been the cause of this type of problem with banks in Korea and it is perfectly possible that a similar situation will be repeated in any other country.

How to protect yourself

Because the virus uses ADB to install its malicious APK on the Android cell phone when it is connected to the PC, it is necessary to keep USB debugging disabled on the device, since it is through this “door” (when it is activated) why the APK virus gets to sneak into the mobile.

Based on the same previous argument, you must be careful not to connect your cell phone to any public computer or PC, which may be infected with this or another type of similar virus.

Another security measure is to check your installed applications for anything suspicious. For example, Trojan.Droidpak disguises itself as the Google Play Store application on Android, that is, it uses the same name and icon. If there are two Play Store stores on your computer, you can already deduce that one of them is a virus.

How to remove viruses from your Android device

Google already said twice that Android does not need antivirus. Is this correct currently?

How to PROTECT my cell phone from viruses, spies, interventions, etc.