Porn-themed Android Ransomware Takes Your Picture Before Asking For Money

An anonymous reader writes with a link to The Stack's report that researchers at security firm zScaler have spotted a clever new variety of Android-based ransomware, which takes advantage of phones' built-in cameras to add a personal touch; it activates the camera to take a snapshot of the user, which is then incorporated into its blackmail note. "The crudely-planned app features an extraordinarily demanding privacy/functionality swap at install, and proceeds to demand a $500 'FBI fine' via PayPal, rather than any of the cryptocurrencies which most ransomware authors currently favour."

Comments

ive had to uninstall this stuff before.

[nimbius]

Working a a sysadmin means ive been saddled with a corporate phone account for about 200 road warriors and marketing drones. Ive had people come to me asking to reset their phones for vague or meaningless reasons, only to find this crap installed. Aside from the utterly purile grasp the authors present of the various branches of US justice/law enforcement, the cameraphone picture is usually worth a quick chuckle. I keep a folder of mugshots as a trophy for removing this garbage app.

a quick call to the android SDK adb command is much faster than mashing volume buttons to get into the boot loader.