BRATA Android malware steals and erases data and hides all traces

Mobile devices are one of the most common, and perhaps even the most popular, form of personal technology. The number of mobile devices of all kinds – smartphones and tablets – amounts to at least hundreds of millions, if not billions. Most of the world’s population probably uses mobile devices in their daily lives. The free operating system Android is therefore one of the most popular mobile applications in the world.

The enormous popularity of mobile devices, their huge distribution and the huge number of users of the Android operating system is certainly a very strong incentive for the creation of malicious software, which is imbedded in people’s mobile devices with malicious intentions and embedded in Android.

The aftermath of Android BRATA

BRATA is one of the most notorious of these programs. The main function of this malware is to gain unauthorized access to a customer’s banking information and steal data related to the financial side of a person’s life.

Developers of antivirus software and other security software take measures to neutralize malware that steals users’ banking information. However, malware developers are not slowing down either. In particular, the new version of BRATA can bypass the protection algorithms of antivirus and other software.

Specific features of the new BRATA modifications include the fact that the program does not simply steal banking information but resets the phone to factory settings after doing its “dirty work”.

As a rule, this malware is installed “in addition” to other applications. What’s more, it’s not the whole program installed first but a so-called special dropper. You might say it’s a kind of “scout”. Having collected the necessary hardware data, the dropper downloads and installs a “clean version” of the program on its own.

How to protect a smartphone

This extremely dangerous program may have serious consequences if you only install applications from trusted and reliable sources. You should also be wary of applications that require administrator rights and the ability to “scan” the user’s mobile device during the installation phase.

The prevalence of mobile devices these days and the cybercrime associated with them compel people to be exceptionally careful and not to let their guard down for even a moment under any circumstances.