New trojan from Huawei’s appgallery store infects 9.3m Android devices ─Report

*Experts explain infections were discovered by a team of malware analysts at antivirus firm Doctor Web, with a whopping 190 games on the AppGallery store compromised by the trojan, with over 9,300,000 collective installs

*Full list of malicious games containing the Android.Cynos.7.origin trojan

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

Security researchers have reported that they found dozens of games on Huawei’s AppGallery store infected with the Android.Cynos.7.origin trojan, which is designed to collect users’ device data and phone numbers.

ConsumerConnect gathered no less than 9.3million consumers have downloaded and installed these malicious games on their Android devices.

CyberNews report also indicates the infections were discovered by a team of malware analysts at antivirus firm Doctor Web, who found a whopping 190 games on the AppGallery store compromised by the trojan, with more than 9,300,000 collective installs.

“Some of these games target Russian-speaking users: they have Russian localisation, titles, and descriptions. Others target Chinese or international audiences,” report stated.

Doctor Web further observes that the trojan is a modification of the Cynos malware that is designed to covertly monetise Android apps, including sending premium SMS messages, downloading and launching extra malware modules, downloading and installing other apps, and more.

It was observed that this version of the trojan, however, is tasked with collecting user data and displaying ads.

“It gains access to user information by asking for permission to make and manage phone calls,” said the report.

Doctor Web security researchers also warned consumers: “At first glance, a mobile phone number leak may seem like an insignificant problem.

“Yet in reality, it can seriously harm users, especially given the fact that children are the games’ main target audience.”

The experts furher stated: “Even if the mobile phone number is registered to an adult, downloading a child’s game may highly likely indicate that the child is the one who is actually using the mobile phone.

“It is very doubtful that parents would want the above data about the phone to be transferred not only to unknown foreign servers, but to anyone else in general.”

They however, said that the games containing this trojan have been removed from Huawei’s AppGallery store after Doctor Web notified the company about the threats found by the researchers.

“If you have downloaded and installed any of these 190 games, you’ll have to manually remove them from your device,” the report said.

The list of malicious games containing the Android.Cynos.7.origin trojan can be found HERE.