Android Malware Makes Its Way to the iPhone

Spyware spreads in insidious ways

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By Joe Dziemianowicz

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A dangerous form of Android spyware found early last year has made its way to the iPhone,  according to Fox News.

The mobile security firm Lookout found Android and iOS malware which, Fox News reports, can steal “contracts, audio recordings, photos, location, and more from devices,” according to a blog post from the company.

The spyware was first discovered on the Italian-language Google Play Store for Android and disguised as “service applications” from mobile operators, according to Security Without Borders which also documented the malware.

A Google spokesperson told Fox News that it “removed the apps from Google Play earlier this year” and warned the users who had installed the malware. While researching the Android version of the malware, Lookout discovered it on iOS.

In this case the malware is spread through the Apple Developer Enterprise program, which allows organizations to distribute proprietary, in-house apps to their employees and bypass the App Store, Lookout said, according to Fox News.

 “The fact that it uses this ‘backdoor’ of the Apple Enterprise Developer Program is fairly novel and likely a new avenue other actors might try to take when targeting iOS users,” Adam Kujawa, Director of Malwarebytes Labs, told Fox News.

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