New Android banking trojan is draining accounts and snooping on encrypted chats

Earlier this year, Google announced plans to make sideloading apps significantly harder to do on the best Android phones. However, many Android owners did not welcome this controversial move.

Now though, fans of sideloading apps might want to reconsider thanks to a new malware strain that can bypass encrypted chats in apps like WhatsApp and Signal and targets financial apps. This new banking trojan, dubbed Sturnus, originates in malicious APKs.

Researchers from MTI Security first discovered Sturnus (via ThreatFabric) and noted it can bypass some security measures by gaining high-level access to the contents of your screen which allows it to view those encrypted chats you thought were safe from prying eyes.

The malware can also recreate banking screens using overlay attacks to phish your