Lookout Warns of Litecoin-Mining Android Malware
The malware leverages infected devices to mine for Litecoin, Dogecoin and Casinocoin.
While the malware doesn't steal data from infected devices, coin mining is extremely resource-intensive and can overheat and even destroy infected hardware.
"As a minimum, users affected by this malware will find their phones getting warm and their battery-life massively shortened," writes Lookout's Marc Rogers. "Another added annoyance? CoinKrypt might suck up your data plan by periodically downloading what is known as a block chain, or a copy of the currency transaction history, which can be several gigabytes in size."
At this point, the malware has only been found on Spanish forums, though most of the detected infections are in France.
"[A]s these digital currencies continue to grow, we predict that the number of new malware families targeting them will also continue to grow as malware authors experiment with various different strategies in their desire to cash in," Rogers writes.
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