NEW YORK: Android malware has been discovered which can hijack user phone to make calls, record videos and steal sensitive data all after he turn it off.
The cunning piece of code was discovered by researchers at online security company AVG. The malware affects all versions of Android older than 5.0 Lollipop, and poses as apps requesting root access to user phone. Once the malware has permission, it hijacks user Smartphone’s shutdown process, so that when he shut his phone down, it actually stays on despite having a blank screen, letting the malware access it when he think it’s safely turned off.
AVG first spotted the malware spreading across Chinese app stores where around 10,000 devices have been infected so far. However, the security company has now added the malware to their Android antivirus definitions list. This means that if users download AVG for Android, they should be protected from this particularly devious malware.
