New banking malware can stealth-hack your Android phone: Here’s how to stay safe

• A malware, called “Sturus,” has emerged, and it exploits Android’s accessibility features to spread on your phone even without you noticing. • It gains access to your Android after being installed via an APK file, and then monitors your phone’s interface, chats, and even button presses. • It then recreates fake banking app UIs to steal your banking data, and places restrictions that prevent it from being uninstalled.

If you think it’s admissible to download APKs from seemingly harmless nooks on the internet, there’s a new pressing reason for you to reconsider that thought. That’s because a new breed of malware has emerged that can snoop on your protected chats and target any banking services you use on your Android devices — and it originates from malicious APKs.

Researchers at MTI