Dark Herring Malware Inflates Phone Bills of Android Users

The security features of the Google Play Store have been breached once again. This time, malicious users were able to upload over 450 fake applications, which posed as various Android utilities – camera apps, photo editors, etc. However, they users who installed them were in for a bad surprise – their device would be infected by the Dark Herring Malware. Below, we will go over the main features of this malware, and what kind of trouble it can cause.

What is the Dark Herring Malware?

This malware aims to steal money from users, but it does not do this through phishijng attacks or data theft. Instead, it uses a much more sinister and stealthy trick. Once the Dark Herring Malware infiltrates a device, it will pump up the victim's mobile carrier bill by subscribing for various services without their knowledge. Of course, the criminals behind the Dark Herring Malware profit from these subscriptions. The malware does not cause any other obvious changes, so users only find out about the issue once they get their monthly bill.

To make matters worse, the Dark Herring Malware tries to be very stealthy with the bills it racks up. Instead of generating hundreds of dollars, it tries to keep it on the down-low – typically adding $10-15 to the monthly bill. This way, users might need months to notice that there is something out of the ordinary. Security experts suspect that the Dark Herring Android Malware managed to infect over a hundred million devices, and generated millions in revenue for its operators.

One of the reasons for the success of the Dark Herring Malware campaign is the high-quality app store pages that the criminals used. They had artificially boosted the download count, reviews, and ratings of their applications – making them look legitimate. As you can see, the Google Play Store is not guaranteed to only host safe apps. We advise you to protect your Android devices by using reputable mobile antivirus software at all times.