Trojan horse pretending as Angry Birds Space game!

BANGALORE, INDIA: Internet security firm Sophos and game maker Rovio warn about a Trojan horse pretending to be the popular Angry Birds Space game.

Malware authors are using the popularity of the Angry Birds series of games as a way to infect the smartphones of users who download the exploit from unofficial Android app stores, according to a security software firm.

In the SophosLabs’ NakedSecurity blog, Graham Cluley said the Trojan horse masquerades itself as the Angry Birds Space game. When downloaded, the malware installs its malicious code onto the device.

“The Trojan horse, which Sophos detects as Andr/KongFu-L, appears to be a fully functional version of the popular smartphone game, but uses the GingerBreak exploit to gain root access to the device, and install malicious code,” Cluley wrote. “The Trojan communicates with a remote Website in an attempt to download and install further malware onto the compromised Android smartphone.”

According to the blog the malware is installed and the Android device compromised, cyber-criminals can then send instructions that will lead to more malicious code being downloaded or URLs to be displayed in the smartphone’s browser.