A few days ago we discussed some of the most important risks that users can be exposed to when using their tablets and smartphones. We were talking about elements such as spam or phishing that, without being viruses in the strict sense, could cause significant damage to devices but also significant damage to users by violating some of their rights and being victims of acts such as theft of material.
When we mentioned some types of cybercrime, we were also referring, in a more indirect way, to other types of elements responsible for large damages. But what are they and how do they work? Below we name the viruses that are most present, but also most harmful to our terminals, regardless of the operating system with which they are equipped. On the other hand, we will give some guidelines to know if a device is infected since with the increase in tablets among users, the ways of attacking these supports have also increased.
1.XcodeGhost
This virus affects Apple software. Present both in iPhone as in iPad, its developers have managed to infect thousands of terminals infiltrating applications aimed at users of the apple firm. The list of tools that can be used by hackers to infect devices ranges from very popular games such as Angry Birds 2 and that they can spread it even more, to others for banking purposes such as Card Safe. China is the country where this virus has the most incidence.
2.Skulls
It mainly affects devices Android. Its main visible action consists of replace all icons from the desk by skulls. On the other hand, some harmful aspects of Skulls is the fact that it uses without permission some of the installed applications and sends both text and multimedia messages without control. However, its most damaging element is the fact that once it has handled the apps, it makes them useless and in many cases, a factory reset of infected devices is required.
3.Ikee
Developed for iOS, affects only the models that have jailbroken (the elimination of suspension by Apple of some of the functions of the operating system) Although it is very harmful for infected media, as well as contagious since its path of transmission comes from the files that users protect and subsequently transmit. Among its most curious aspects, it stands out that all infected terminals show the image of Rick Astley on the desktop.
4. DroidKungFu
Its main objective is Android. It enters through a file named com.google.ssearch.apk. Once it is inside the terminals, it deletes other files without prior notice, opens websites provided by the central servers of this virus and downloads applications without permission. However, the most compromised aspect comes with the privacy of the users, since steal all data from the terminal and sends them to the hackers who created DroidKungFu.
5.Ginger Master
Finally, we highlight this element, which is also found in Android its main victim. Among its highlights agrees on DroidKungFu in the fact that it also subtract the data devices such as the phone number or SIM card contacts and sends them to central servers. However, it currently does not pose a potential threat since its main victim was the version 2.3 of this operating system.
How to know if our device is infected?
Many viruses are difficult to intercept even when our devices have already been infected. In other cases, only when the terminals have been disabled is when we can see we have been attacked when it is too late to react. However, there are some guidelines that allow us to know if we have been the target of any of these acts. Among them is the control of the data consumption and see if we have had activity peaks with a large number of downloads, the registry of all the installed applications and see if there are any that we have not downloaded or used and also, the unexpected appearance of advertisements and advertising content, which can give us clues about the presence of adware programs on tablets or smartphones.
As we have seen, there are viruses that can be very harmful both for us and for the terminals. However, as we always recommend, with conscientious use and extreme caution when browsing or using applications with elements such as the protection of our personal data and the presence on certified sites that inspire confidence, we can prevent attacks on those that we expose ourselves every day in many cases, without being aware of them. On the other hand, we have a large number of antivirus and elements that, despite having some important limitations in some cases, will help us protect ourselves. After learning more about the viruses most present in both Android and iOS, do you think that the developers of these operating systems should work more to protect users from these elements or do you think that viruses are elements that will never disappear completely? You have at your disposal more information about other types of harmful actions for our tablets and smartphones as well as a list of the best tools that can shield the devices.