Are You Also Using ‘Google Translate’ App? Beware of Malware!

There are several fake Google apps available in the market like – Google Translate, YouTube Music, Microsoft Translate etc. which are spreading malware among users.

According to reports, a horrifying malware campaign has activated and is already targeting users with bogus apps that mimic well-known Google apps. 

According to CheckPoint Research (CPR), the research division of American-Israeli cybersecurity business Check Point Software Technologies, the malware has infected thousands of machines worldwide. 

Since 2019, machines in 11 nations have been infected by the “Nitrokod” Monero mining malware, according to the research team. 

The research team detailed malware attacks using phony desktop apps for well-known Google apps including Google Translate, YouTube Music, and Microsoft Translate. 

Numerous free software download portals, like Softpedia and Uptodown, provide these fake apps for download.

The investigation was carried out by the research team using a fraudulent Google Translate desktop application. 

According to the study team, the majority of the products Nitrokod offers are well-known programmes without an official desktop version. 

For instance, the desktop version of Google Translate is the most used Nitrokod application. Because Google hasn’t made a desktop version available, the attackers’ version is quite tempting.

The research also points out that the malware campaign’s operational methods have kept it from being discovered up until now.

Instead of launching an attack immediately after the first software download, the malware uses a scheduled task mechanism to spread out the malware installation over a number of days and remove any evidence of its previous operation.

Surprisingly, the hackers use a Chromium-based framework to propagate functional programmes while creating the bogus apps from the legitimate web pages of the original source.

By using their CPU to mine Monero (XMR), Check Point estimates that almost 100,000 victims have been infected across Israel, Germany, the Uk, the Americas, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, Australia, Greece, Turkey, Mongolia, and Poland.