It is so easy to be infected by spyware and malware on your device. You might not even think about it, and suddenly, your device is infected and someone has taken control of your device. Or, they might not take control of your device. Instead, they are simply spying on all your activities in the background.
WolfRAT is the name of malware that was discovered May 2020. It is built on the DenDroid family, a Trojan Horse malware discovered back in 2015. The source code of the original code has been available, and since then, people have tried to build on the code to create modern tools doing what a malware/spyware is supposed to do; spy on your activities, steal your data, copy your photos and videos, and record screen activities.
How do you get WolfRAT installed on your device?
For some reason, the malware has spread quickly in Thailand, and not so much in the rest of the world. However, it is extremely easy to be infected. The malware is installed on your device, disguised as “com.google.services.” Of course, if you ever see that your phone tells you to install something from this source, you will say yes, and go for it. After installing the program, all you will see if you try to run is generic Google information, if you actually try to run it.
But, don’t be fooled. In the background, the malware is gathering data from your device, it is copying photos and videos to an external server, and it is even running a screen recorder looking at your conversations in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
What to do if you are infected?
The best thing to do is to simply remove the installed application. You should also install an antivirus and malware remover on your device. A very good and solid antivirus solution for Android devices is AVG Antivirus. It comes with lots of extras as well, making you able to find the location of your mobile if it gets lost, to make it give out a loud noise if you tell it to, and you can also wipe your mobile clean from afar, should your mobile get into the wrong hands.
With the AVG Antivirus Pro version, you can also tell your phone to make photos whenever the wrong PIN code is used to start the device.
But, first of all, also included in the free version, is the ability to scan for viruses, malware, and spyware, on your device. The program has been downloaded by more than 100,000,000 times from the Google Play Store, something that should give the app credibility
Some common tips to keep your device safe
Just like you don’t run up and down the street with Dollar bills falling out of your pockets, you should take some precautions also when using your Android device. The same is true with iOS devices, but in general, Apple devices are much more secure and harder to hack.
However, never install programs from sources that you do not trust. We sometimes recommend download .apk files manually (when you cannot find them in the Google Play Store). But, this can also be risky, and you should be very careful doing so, because by installing programs like that, it is very easy to infect your device with dangerous programs.
When you install programs, spend one minute extra actually reading about what kind of rights you give the application. Most of us just click agree and yes to everything, but that isn’t the smartest thing to do. So, check what kind of rights the app really wants, and feel free to say no. If it causes trouble, you can easily change it later. It is a fact, most programs and applications want way more rights than they actually need.
