A new ransomware has been discovered in the Google Play store that threatens users to share their web browsing history with friends and family.
The software dubbed as Lea
kerLocker is holding Android users by threatening them to send their Chrome web history, personal messages on Facebook, their SMS text history, and more, to contacts in their phone as well as their email contacts.
The ransomware was noticed for the first time by the researchers at McAfee.
The creators of the LeakerLocker demands $50 in exchange for not sending the users personal data to their contacts.
They claim that they even have almost every data from your phone, including photos, Facebook messages, web browsing history, phone call history, emails, contact numbers, location data and SMS conversations.
According to the McAfee researchers, there are two applications in the Google Play Store which are currently affected by the threat. One is Wallpapers Blur HD, which has been downloaded between 5,000 and 10,000 times, and another one is Booster & Cleaner Pro, which has been downloaded between 1,000 and 5,000 times
This sums up that some 15,000 people may have fallen victim of the ransomware, which is there in the Google Play Store since April.
Once you download any of these infected apps, the LeakerLocker ransomware request permission from the users’ phone.
However, McAfee researchers have advised victims not to pay any kind of ransom.
On their official blog post, McAfee writes “We advise users of infected devices to not pay the ransom: Doing so contributes to the proliferation of this malicious business, which will lead to more attacks.
“Also, there is no guarantee that the information will be released or used to blackmail victims again.”
While the security firm has contacted and informed Google about the ransomware.
The software dubbed as Lea
The ransomware was noticed for the first time by the researchers at McAfee.
The creators of the LeakerLocker demands $50 in exchange for not sending the users personal data to their contacts.
They claim that they even have almost every data from your phone, including photos, Facebook messages, web browsing history, phone call history, emails, contact numbers, location data and SMS conversations.
According to the McAfee researchers, there are two applications in the Google Play Store which are currently affected by the threat. One is Wallpapers Blur HD, which has been downloaded between 5,000 and 10,000 times, and another one is Booster & Cleaner Pro, which has been downloaded between 1,000 and 5,000 times
This sums up that some 15,000 people may have fallen victim of the ransomware, which is there in the Google Play Store since April.
Once you download any of these infected apps, the LeakerLocker ransomware request permission from the users’ phone.
However, McAfee researchers have advised victims not to pay any kind of ransom.
On their official blog post, McAfee writes “We advise users of infected devices to not pay the ransom: Doing so contributes to the proliferation of this malicious business, which will lead to more attacks.
“Also, there is no guarantee that the information will be released or used to blackmail victims again.”
While the security firm has contacted and informed Google about the ransomware.
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