Firm launches free app scanner for Android

Kaspersky Fake ID Scanner scans smartphones and tablets for vulnerabilities that put users’ valuable data, privacy and even money at risk, the company said in its latest report.There has been no shortage of such discoveries in the past several months. One of the most notable new vulnerabilities is a flaw found by experts at Bluebox […]

Kaspersky Fake ID Scanner scans smartphones and tablets for vulnerabilities that put users’ valuable data, privacy and even money at risk, the company said in its latest report.
There has been no shortage of such discoveries in the past several months. One of the most notable new vulnerabilities is a flaw found by experts at Bluebox Labs that enables attackers to disguise any applications, including malicious, as legitimate programmes developed by well-known vendors. The vulnerability was named Fake ID.
Another vulnerability that has made headlines is Heartbleed. It can be exploited to read memory on systems that use certain versions of the OpenSSL protocol. This means that attackers can get access to sensitive user data by sending specially crafted requests. This flaw affected many companies.
One of the latest discoveries is the Master Key vulnerability which enables cybercriminals to access any Android device with administrator privileges. This means that an attacker can launch any software on a device without the owner’s knowledge.
Although, as a rule, Google quickly closes such vulnerabilities, millions of Android users remain at risk, since it often takes device manufacturers a long time to update firmware. Malware can use such vulnerabilities to make its way onto smartphones and tablets, often disguised as popular applications, in order to steal personal data stored on the devices, hijack user accounts on social networks, steal online banking credentials, etc.