Malware-infected Pokemon Go companion app was downloaded half a million times
The app, titled “Guide for Pokemon Go” on the Play Store, is capable of seizing root access rights on Android smartphones and using this to install and uninstall apps, or display unsolicited ads.
Kaspersky Lab experts said that this app managed to successfully infect 6,000 devices. It highlighted some features of the malware that helped it avoid detection. In a blog post, Kaspersky wrote that the takeover doesn’t start as soon as the victim launches the app. Instead, it wrote, “it waits for the user to install or uninstall another app, and then checks to see whether that app runs on a real device or on a virtual machine. If it’s dealing with a device, the Trojan will then wait another two hours before starting its malicious activity.”
