Cloned Whatsapp Apps spying on Indians both via Video And Audio mode:

Says Report

According to a new report, India has the highest number of Android trojan detections, and a cloned, third-party unofficial version of WhatsApp is leading in spying on people's chats in the country. According to a report by cyber-security firm ESET, 'GB WhatsApp' — a popular but cloned third-party version of WhatsApp — was responsible for a large portion of Android spyware detection in the last four months.

These malicious apps have a wide range of spying capabilities, including the ability to record audio and video. "Because the cloned app isn't on Google Play, there are no security checks in place compared to the legitimate WhatsApp, and versions available on various download websites are riddled with malware," according to the report.

From May to August 2022, India (35%) was ranked second after China (53%), as the geolocation for bots comprising the largest internet of things (IoT) botnet known as 'Mozi.' In May-August, the number of bots in the IoT botnet 'Mozi' decreased by 23 percent, from 500,000 compromised devices to 383,000.

China and India, on the other hand, continued to have the most IoT bots geolocated within their respective countries. According to the report, "these statistics confirm the assumption that the 'Mozi' botnet is on autopilot, running without human supervision since its reputed author was arrested in 2021."

Despite declining numbers, Russian IP addresses continued to account for the majority of remote desktop protocol (RDP) attacks. "Russia was also the most targeted country for ransomware, with some attacks being politically or ideologically motivated by the war," said Roman Kovac, Chief Research Officer at ESET.

The report also looked at threats that primarily affect home users. "In terms of threats directly affecting virtual and physical currencies, a web skimmer known as Magecart remains the leading threat attempting to steal credit card information from online shoppers," said Kovac.