Germany warns of Malicious Financial Software Godfather
2023.01.09 08:51
Germany warns of Malicious Financial Software Godfather
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – Due to the rapid spread of a new financial malware that affects banking and cryptocurrency applications, German financial authorities are raising the alarm.
On January 9, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) of Germany issued an official warning to consumers about “Godfather,” a malware that collects user data in banking and cryptocurrency apps.
BaFin emphasized that the brand-new virus is affecting approximately 400 crypto and banking apps, including those in Germany. The Godfather malware targets users by displaying fictitious websites for legitimate cryptocurrency and banking apps and stealing login credentials.
The regulator says that the method by which the malware attacks users’ devices is still unknown. It is known that the malware sends push notifications in order to obtain the codes for two-factor authentication. The cybercriminals may be able to access the accounts and wallets of customers with this data,” BaFin stated.
In December, reports suggested that the Godfather malware was affecting Android devices and was targeting users in 16 nations, triggering the initial warnings. The Godfather trojan was initially discovered by Group-IB cybersecurity experts in 2021. However, the malware has undergone significant code improvements and has experienced a significant increase in activity over the past few months.
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Experts in cybersecurity from Group-IB say that banking apps make up almost half of all apps Godfather targets, and the majority of them come from the United States. Along with Canada, Spain, and Turkey, Germany is also one of the most affected nations. It is also known that the malware targets 94 cryptocurrency wallet apps and 110 cryptocurrency exchange platforms.
Group-IB’s #ThreatIntelligence detected more than 400 international financial companies targeted by the #Godfather #Android banking #Trojan between June 2021 and October 2022. Godfather’s predecessor is another #banking Trojan named #Anubis: pic.twitter.com/JERnAuNfAC
— Group-IB Global (@GroupIB_GIB) December 21, 2022
In recent years, one of the most common types of attacks on cryptocurrency apps has been cryptojacking. The cybersecurity lab Kaspersky has predicted that the “cyber epidemics with the biggest impact” in 2023 will likely lead to even more malware attacks.
