In largest hacking of Google so far, about 1.3 mil. accounts compromised

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. November 30, 2016, 7:52 PM (IDT)

Israeli cyber security company Check Point revealed Wednesday that a new strain of malware has infected about 1.3 million Android phones, resulting in the largest hacking of Google accounts until now. The malware has stolen data stored in various properties including Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos. “Gooligan” is being spread via e-mail or text messages with attached apps infected with the malware. Once the malware is installed, it enables the hackers to take complete control over the smartphone, including all of the information installed in it and in the user’s Google cloud account. One of the aims of the malware is to install apps that operate as Ad Bots that illegally generate a large amount of funds for the hackers. Check Point said that about 60 percent of the affected smartphones are in Asia but there have been only 700 cases of the malware targeting Israeli users. Google announced that it received the information from the Israeli company, released a patch and identified the accounts that had been attacked. The data stolen from smartphones and e-mail accounts since August have been put up for sale on the dark net.    

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