Kaspersky Lab spoke about the threat to Android users due to the Rasket program

The head of the Russian research center of Kaspersky Lab, Dmitry Galov, spoke about the emergence of the Rasket malware, which can threaten the security of Russian users of Android-based smartphones. Once activated on the device, the program gains access to the user’s photos, videos, messages, and documents. The authors of Rasket threaten to publish compromised data if the person does not pay them 5 thousand rubles.

In an interview “Izvestia” Mr. Galov said that the malware is distributed under the guise of adult dating or chat services, radar-detector applications, or lottery applications. The main difference between Rasket and other existing programs is that now attackers do not try to encrypt data and blackmail the user by losing access to it. They extort money under the pretext that they will not distribute the personal information of the victim.

Dmitry Galov noted that it is quite simple to understand that Rasket has “settled” in a smartphone, because the goal of the attackers is precisely to declare themselves to the owner of the device and demand money. To protect your smartphone, according to the expert, you can only use an antivirus.

Since the beginning of 2023, the number of hacker attacks on Russian companies using ransomware viruses (encrypting files on devices, after which ransomware requires a fee to return to normal operation) has grown by 77% in annual terms. Positive Technologies specialists note that attackers also began to increase the amount of extorted funds and began to attack large businesses more often.

More details – in the material “Kommersant” “Cryptologists went up”.

Milena Kostereva