Trojan-Spy:Android/Sscul

Classification

Category:

Malware

Platform:

Android

Type:

Trojan-spy

Aliases:

Trojan-Spy:Android/Sscul.A
Trojan-Spy:Android/Sscul.B
Trojan-Spy:Android/Sscul.C

Summary

Trojan-Spy:Android/Sscul variants steal information from the affected device and forward the details to a remote server. More unusually, Sschul variants attempt to infect Windows machines linked to the device by exploiting the AutoRun feature.

Removal

Technical Details

Ssucl is a family of trojans found in a third party Android app market. It claims to be a utility application called DroidCleaner or SuperClean that can improve a device's performance. But when installed, it does nothing useful.

Ssucl's main operation revolves around information theft. It communicates with a command and control (C&C) server and receives instructions to carry out further actions. These actions vary between variants and include:

Upload files, contact data, photos, GPS coordinates, device information (IMEI number, IP address, list of installed application, etc.), and SMS content to the server
Send or delete SMS messages
Change the ringer mode to silent or normal
Set up call forwarding by inputting the code **21* phonenumber#, where phonenumber is the number to which the calls will be forwarded
Turn the WiFi on or off
Launch other applications on the device
Steal Android or Dropbox login credentials
Download AutoRun malware onto the device's memory card

Ssucl has been found to be in contact with these two servers:

http://claco/[...]/kicks-ass.net
http://claco./[...]/hopto.org

The first part of the URLs is similar to Claudio c, the name used to sign Ssucl's certificate. This similarity may be a hint pointing to the author's name.

Additionally, Ssucl tries to infect the Windows computer linked to device by taking advantage of the AutoRun feature. When infecting a device, Ssucl will copy a Windows executable to the memory card that will automatically run when the device is connected to the computer as an external USB storage device. This Windows component is also a spying trojan; it connects to the same C&C servers as its Android counterpart.

A mobile malware attempting to infect a Windows computer is not a new finding. The CardTrap family of Symbian trojans used the same method (taking advantage of the AutoRun feature to infect memory cards) back in 2005. But this is the first instance where the method is used by an Android malware. However, the AutoRun infection method used by Ssucl is quite crude and does not work on the newer version of Windows or on older versions if the AutoRun feature has been disabled.