A Horde of 'malware Vikings' threatens the security of Android: Check Point alert

The security company Check Point has detected a new type of attack that targets Android devices and can be installed using Google Play Store. Viking Horde, this is its name, can perform click fraud and launch other types of attacks, such as DDoS, spam messages, and more. To get around the store checks have been "at least five versions" Viking Horde, with Google that has been advised of the presence of the malware already on 5 May.

Viking Horde creates the devices, are in them unlocked root access or not, a botnet that uses IP addresses converted to proxy to conceal click fraud that guarantee the economic revenue attackers. The bigger the botnet, or the network consisting of connected computing devices and infected by malware, the higher the revenue for criminals that lie behind the hack. Thanks to the processing capacity distributed on multiple devices the botnet can be used for different purposes, and more is extended and becomes more menacing.

On rooted devices the potential of Viking Horde grow. The software is able to download other malware that can in turn perform any type of remote code, with the possibility of jeopardizing the security of the data stored on the device. Also it reaps all the benefits that are conferred by root permissions, making it difficult, if not impossible, manually on the device removal. The most downloaded application containing malware is Viking Jump, released on the store last April 15 and counts from 50,000 to 10,000 downloads.

In some local markets, according to reports from Check Point, Viking Jump is one of the most downloaded free apps on Android store in recent weeks. Other applications that integrate malware are Wi-Fi Plus (loaded on the store on March 29), Memory Booster, Parrot Copter and Simple 2048.