Elibomi, an Android malware, has targetted Indian taxpayers by stealing their financial information in a phishing attack, according to a blog post by McAfee’s Mobile Research team. The antivirus company disclosed that the attackers lure in unsuspecting users by pretending to be a fake tax-filing application. The company picked out two campaigns in November 2020, and May 2021, which relied on phony tax-filing themes to target users. Cyber attacks have increased exponentially since the pandemic as lockdowns caused by COVID-19 triggered a rapid adoption of digital tech. The surge in digitisation has also invited the attention of hackers and scammers who see this as an opportunity ripe for the taking. Phishing is a cyber attack that uses disguised email as a weapon and is notoriously difficult to sniff out, given its sophistication. It is also the reason why it is one of the most common types of cyber attacks. Phishing constituted almost one-third of all cyber attacks in 2019 as per Security Intelligence. The attacks have increased by 600% during the pandemic. The consequences can be damaging in most cases as it results in severe financial losses. What did the investigation reveal? McAfee explained that the delivery of malware takes place through an SMS text. “The SMS message pretends to be from the Income Tax Department in India and uses the name of the targeted user to make the SMS phishing attack more credible and increase the chances of infecting the device. The fake app is designed to capture and steal…
