This deadly App Store virus is so bad, it’ll leave you in need of a new smartphone

Lookout claims the new Android virus is so devastating, you will need a new smartphone

A TERRIFYING new Android virus has been discovered – and it’s so bad, it could leave you in need of a new smartphone.

 

There has been no shortage of Android malware attacks this year, but this might just be the worst yet.

Secretly attacking your Android phone, this latest bug embeds itself into popular apps and there is almost no way to fix it.

The devastating new malware was unearthed earlier this week by security firm, Lookout.

In fact, the malware discovered by the team is so difficult to remove from your smartphone, it is better to throw it away and get a new one.

 

According to Lookout, there are thousands of samples of the malware floating around on mobile app stores.

Dubbed Shedun, Shuanet and ShiftyBug, the Android malware all share the same deadly code and use similar tactics to infect the victim's smartphone.

Lookout has detected more than 20,000 samples of this type of trojan adware masquerading as legitimate applications.

The ShiftyBug malware has been found impersonating Candy Crush, Facebook, GoogleNow, NYTimes, Okta, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp and many others.

Unlike other types of adware, this new type is completely silent – and even roots the owner’s device in the background.

 

The malware roots itself almost immediately and “embeds itself as a system application, and becomes nearly impossible to remove,” according to Lookout.

“This is a new trend for adware and an alarming one at that,” the firm warns.

“To add insult to injury, victims will likely not be able to uninstall the malware – leaving them with the options of either seeking out professional help to remove it, or simply purchasing a new device.”

It's thought most of the infections are coming via third party app stores, with Android users being advised to only download trusted apps from Google's own Play Store.

Lookout writes on its official blog: “For individuals, getting infected with Shedun, Shuanet, and ShiftyBug might mean a trip to the store to buy a new phone.

 



The Android malware posed as popular apps on unofficial third-party app stores



“Because these pieces of adware root the device and install themselves as system applications, they become nearly impossible to remove, usually forcing victims to replace their device in order to regain normalcy.

“For enterprises, having rooted devices on the network is a concern, especially if those devices were rooted by a repackaged version of a legitimate and popular enterprise app. 

“In this rooted state, an everyday victim won’t have the proper interface to control what apps on the phone request root access. 

“The problem here is that these apps may gain access to data they shouldn’t have access to, given their escalated privileges.”

 

It's not been a good week for Android devices with Google saying it exposed serious flaws on Samsung's latest Galaxy S6 edge.

The device, which went on sale earlier this year, had 11 security loopholes which made it simple for hackers to target data including personal emails.

What made this bug so serious was that emails on the phone could be forwarded on to another other account without the victim knowing.

Google's Project Zero team notified Samsung of the problems with the Korean tech giant quickly fixing eight of them.