Privacy and cybersecurity has gone for a ride in the last few years and viruses, malwares and other such spyware invade our systems, every now and then.
A new revelation by cybersecurity solutions provider Check Point on Wednesday claimed, Agent Smith, a new mobile malware, quietly infected close to 1.5 crore Indian Android users and 2.5 crore users, globally.
The name has been given because of the nature of the malware, which creeps in quietly, doing a lot of damage without making any noise.
According to Check Point:
Disguised as a Google-related application, the malware exploits known Android vulnerabilities and automatically replaces installed apps with malicious versions without users’ knowledge or interaction.Dubbed Agent Smith, the malware currently uses its broad access to the devices’ resources to show fraudulent ads for financial gain, but could easily be used for far more intrusive and harmful purposes such as banking credential theft and eavesdropping
How to remove such malware applications from your phone?
For Android:
1. Go to Settings Menu
2. Click on Apps or Application Manager
3. Scroll to the suspected app and uninstall it
For iOS:
1. Go to Settings Menu
2. Scroll to ‘Safari’
3. On the list of options, ensure that ‘block pop-ups’ is selected
4. Then go to ‘Advanced’ -> ‘Website Data’
5. Delete any unrecognized site listed there
Generally entering your smartphone through untrustworthy applications, the malware ‘Agent Smith’ can very well invade deeper and infect apps like WhatsApp, posing a problem to your security and privacy both.
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