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NEWS FROM THE LAB - Tuesday, September 4, 2012
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Perfecting the Fake - Android Edition Posted by Karmina @ 14:07 GMT

When fake AVs used to take the limelight, their user interface started from pretty-crappy-and-obviously-rogue-AV and ended up with a very convincing design. It took a while for the miscreants to get there, but they really poured some work in an attempt to perfect the design in order to get a wider victim-base.

It looks like the websites for fake android applications are taking the same road. For quite some time, they have been using the same website layout template. Examples of the latest applications they mimic are: Android Office, Winamp, Doodle Jump, DrWeb, Mass Effect, and Nova 3.

android_template2

However, that trend could be changing. We have already seen some fake applications that dropped the template act altogether in order to create a more polished design.

skype_instagram

Say, for example, this Chrome and fake Chrome websites. Without the word fake, would you be able to spot the difference?

chrome_fake_real

They are getting more and more convincing. It makes one wonder what the look and feel of these websites are going to be in a few months time.

It does not mean that if it looks pretty good, it is good. In the Android world one has to be wary and careful before installing anything on their devices.

We are detecting the malicious applications from these sites under the Trojan:Android/Fakeinst family. In addition to that, our Mobile Security customers are prevented from accessing such malicious websites by its Browsing Protection feature.