The Coronavirus became a pandemic and the search for information about the disease caught the attention of cybercriminals.
The security company DomainTools released a report that says that , an app for Android that promises to map the growth of the disease brings a ransomware that blocks the user's cell phone and asks for a reward for the data.
According to information provided by the tecmundo, the virus is called CovidLock and hides behind an application known as “Covid19 Tracker”, available for Android, but outside the Play Store. Right after installation, the program asks the user for advanced permissions, such as controlling the lock screen to “send alerts when an infected person is nearby”.
After the app takes control of certain smartphone features, the phone is blocked and sends a message that all content will be deleted after 24 hours, in addition to the users' social media information being leaked. The only way to prevent the action would be to pay a $ 100 ransom in bitcoin, as usual in ransomware.
What is the solution?
The team at DomainTools he said he will soon release a key that manages to circumvent the malicious program. In addition, the company has revealed some tips that can help protect against the scam.
To begin with, the application was not being distributed through the Play Store and was found on an online domain with the term “Coronavirus”. So, the first tip is to just download apps about the disease from trusted sources. In addition DomainTools said the software is only effective on smartphones with older versions of Android. For those using version 7.0 Nougat or newer, the ransomware can only lock the phone if the user has never set a password on the device.
