The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has alerted telecom consumers of the existence of new, high-risk and extremely-damaging, Malware called Flubot.
A malware is a generic word used to describe a virus or software, designed especially to “disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to a computer system.”
A statement by the Director Public Affairs NCC, Mr Ugochukwu Adinde says the Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT) of the Commission, Flubot “targets Androids with fake security updates and App installations”.
The ngCERT affirms that Flubot “impersonates Android mobile banking applications to draw fake web view on targeted applications” and its goal transcends stealing personal data and essentially targets stealing of credit card details or online banking credentials.
The statement says Flubot is circulated through Short Message Service (SMS) and can snoop “on incoming notifications, initiate calls, read or write SMSes, and transmit the victim’s contact list to its control centre.”
NCC advises telecom Consumers to avoid clicking on the links with suspicious text messages, and not install any app or security update the page asks to install.
It also advises the Use of updated antivirus software that detects and prevents malware infections while strong passwords and enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) over logins should be used.
Reporting by Olayemi Daniyan, editing by Daniel Adejo.