Latest Version of MalLocker Android Ransomware Packs New Tricks

Latest Version of MalLocker Android Ransomware Packs New Tricks
Like most such mobile malware, the new one doesn't encrypt data but attempts to make an infected system impossible to use, Microsoft says.

Security researchers at Microsoft have spotted a dangerous new version of MalLocker, a constantly evolving Android ransomware family that has been floating around in the wild since at least 2014.


The new version is notable for how it surfaces the ransom demand on infected devices and its integration of an open source machine-learning module for context-aware cropping of the ransom note, depending on screen size. The latest variant of MalLocker also uses a new obfuscation method to hinder code analysis and to evade detection by anti-malware tools.


In a report this week, Microsoft described MalLocker as being distributed via arbitrary websites and online forums, or hidden in popular apps and video players for mobile devices. Like many other Android ransomware variants, the new MalLocker does not actually encrypt data on infected devices. Instead, it attempts to prevent users from using an infected device by displaying a ransom note over every window. Regardless of what button the user clicks, the ransom note remains on top of all other windows.


What is different in the new MalLocker variant is the manner in which it achieves this persistence. Previous Android ransomware tools took advantage of a system alert feature in the OS to display the ransomware note. But that has become almost impossible to do now because of certain platform-level changes that Google has implemented to thwart the abuse, Microsoft said.


The new variant instead abuses two other functions that are present in recent versions of Android. "First, it sets its notification as a very important notification requiring immediate ..

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