Chamois

The Chamois is an infamous piece of an Android malware that was running rampant in 2017, and dozens of millions of devices were affected by its attack. Back then, security researchers reported that the Chamois malware was part of one of the largest ad fraud operations ever recorded, as its operators were able to use millions of devices to view their paid advertisements, therefore increasing the ad revenue they generate significantly. Although Google researchers reported the problem was solved in 2017 by removing all traces of the Chamois malware on the Google Play Store, the malware appears to be back in action with the help of corrupted Software Development Kits (SDKs) that are spread online.

Officially, the Chamois malware is categorized as a backdoor Trojan because of its ability to execute code on the infected device, and therefore grant the attackers with access to just about all of the compromised system’s features. Although the Chamois was most commonly used for ad fraud, its features would allow the attackers to conduct phone and premium SMS fraud campaigns, as well as load additional applications onto the infected device.

Both Google and cybersecurity researchers have employed a broad range of techniques to stop the Chamois’s propagation channels and reduce the number of infected devices, and those techniques have certainly limited the Chamois’s reach. However, the operators of this malware are unlikely to stay silent for long, and researchers suspect that the Chamois attacks will explode again exploiting a new infection vector to carry out its harmful deeds.

Protecting your Android device from Chamois and other Android-compatible malware requires you to be more careful about the websites you browse, and the content you download – statistics show that users who download applications from the Google Play Store exclusively are eight times less likely to come across Potentially Harmful Applications (PHAs).
[templatemalwareremoval]