Chinese Malware Found In 10 Million Android Phones?

Check your phone if it is among the millions of Android phones that have been infected with the Chinese malware called the HummingBad.

According to cyber security firm Check Point, the infections rose sharply in mid-May since it was discovered in February. Since its discovery, the company has released an analysis for threat.

So what does the HummingBad do? At its worst, it can gain full access to your device and force it to download apps and click on ads even if you don't want it to.

"The first component attempts to gain root access on a device with...rootkit [software] that exploits multiple vulnerabilities. If successful, attackers gain full access to a device," Israel-based Check Point said. "If rooting fails, a second component uses a fake system update notification, tricking users into granting HummingBad system-level permissions."

Android phones are infected by what is called as a "drive-by download attack" as people visited websites and through malicious payloads from adult websites. Once infected, the Trojan cannot be removed.

Over 50 percent of the victims come from China, India, the Philippines and Indonesia, with the rest coming from all over the world.

The group behind it is a team of developers at Yingmob-a legitimate multimillion-dollar advertising analytics firm based in Beijing.

"Yingmob has several teams developing legitimate tracking and ad platforms," Check Point said. "The team responsible for developing the malicious components is the 'Development Team for Overseas Platform' which includes four groups with a total of 25 employees."

Since they began their attacks, the company has been generating around $300,000 per month through forced download of apps and ad clicks from the 10 million victims unwittingly using malicious apps. This results in 2.5 million clicks every 24 hours generating about $10,000 per day.

What's even worse about the malware is that personal data that the company gathers through its malware can be sold, or worse, access to mobile phones could be sold to other parties, according to Check Point. The company estimates that around 85 million smartphones have the group's apps installed on their smartphones even without the malware.