ESET, an antivirus manufacturer and internet security firm has unearthed and backtracked a sophisticated malicious cryptocurrency campaign that targets mobile devices using Android or iOS operating systems (iPhones).
According to ESET, malware authors are distributing malicious apps via fake websites, mimicking legitimate wallet services such as Metamask, Coinbase, Trust Wallet, TokenPocket, Bitpie, imToken, and OneKey. Subsequently, attackers use ads placed on legitimate websites with misleading articles to promote the fake websites that distribute these malicious wallet apps.
Additionally, intermediaries have been recruited via Telegram and Facebook groups, in an attempt to trick unsuspecting visitors into downloading the malicious apps. While the primary motive of the campaign is to exfiltrate users' funds, ESET researchers have mainly noticed Chinese users being targeted but with cryptocurrencies becoming more popular, the firm's researchers expect the methodologies used in it to spread to other markets.
The campaign tracked since May 2021, seems to be controlled by a single criminal group. The malicious cryptocurrency wallet apps are designed in such a manner that they replicate the same functionality of their original counterparts, while also incorporating malicious code changes that enable the theft of crypto assets.
"These malicious apps also represent another threat to victims, as some of them send secret victim seed phrases to the attackers' server using an unsecured HTTP connection," Lukáš Štefanko, senior malware researcher at ESET stated. "This means that victims' funds could be stolen not only by the operator of this scheme but also by a different attacker eavesdropping on the same network."
The Slovak cybersecurity firm said it also uncovered dozens of groups promoting malicious apps on the Telegram messaging app that were, in turn, shared on at least 56 Facebook groups in hopes of landing new distribution partners for the fraudulent campaign.
The investigation also showed that there are 13 unearthed applications that masquerade as the Jxx Liberty Waller on the Google Play store, all of which have since been removed from the Android app marketplace. However, before the takedown in January, these applications were installed more than 1100 times.
"Their goal was simply to tease out the user's recovery seed phrase and send it either to the attackers' server or to a secret Telegram chat group," Štefanko concluded.
