Internet Igors have stitched together the first strain of Windows malware that can hop over and infect Android smartphones and tablets.
The Droidpak mobile banking trojan exploits syncing between smartphones and Windows PCs to jump from a compromised PC onto an Android device.
The Windows Trojan downloads a malicious .APK file (an Android application) onto an infected computer. The malware also downloads a command line Android Debug Bridge (ADB) tool, a utility that allows the malicious code to execute commands on Android devices connected to an infected computer.
ADB is a legitimate utility that's part of the official Android software development kit.
Ultimately the malware is used to intercept victims' SMS messages before relaying them to an attacker's server, an approach that defeats secondary channel confirmation of fraudulent banking transactions.
The Android malware works in conjunction with malware on an infected Windows device in order to carry out fraudulent transactions.
The combo is targeted against online banking users in South Korea. A write up of the malware can be found in a blog post by Symantec here.
The Droidpak trojan takes the opposite route to anther strain of malware, discovered by security researchers at Kapsersky Lab last year, which infects an Android smartphone or tablet before attempting to infect a Windows PC. ®
