Malware News Google Play, Apple App Store apps caught stealing crypto wallets

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

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https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/mobile/google-play-apple-app-store-apps-caught-stealing-crypto-wallets/

Android and iOS apps on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store contain a malicious software development kit (SDK) designed to steal cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases using optical character recognition (OCR) stealers.

The campaign is called "SparkCat" after the name ("Spark") of one of the malicious SDK components in the infected apps, with developers likely not knowingly participating in the operation.

According to Kaspersky, on Google Play alone, where download numbers are publicly available, the infected apps were downloaded over 242,000 times.

"We found Android and iOS apps that had a malicious SDK/framework embedded to steal crypto wallet recovery phrases, some of which were available on Google Play and the App Store," explains Kaspersky.

"The infected apps were downloaded more than 242,000 times from Google Play. This is the first known case of a stealer being found in the App Store."

Google Play, Apple App Store apps caught stealing crypto wallets

A new campaign dubbed 'SparkCat' has been uncovered, targeting the cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases of Android and iOS users using optical character recognition (OCR) stealers.

www.bleepingcomputer.com