An expert in the field of IT and cybersecurity, the head of the Force Technologies company, Boris Kosarev, in a conversation with RT, spoke about how attackers can hack a device using an APK file.
RT’s interlocutor noted that the abbreviation “APK” means that the attacker offers the user to download the program installation file on Android.
“The program will request access to contacts, SMS, photos, all this data will be copied and sent to the attacker. Since the goals of financial fraudsters and the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate are indistinguishable from each other, the theft of this data poses a threat to national security. This file concerns only the Android operating system and does not apply to all types of iPhone,” Kosarev said.
However, according to the expert, although this method of deception is aimed mainly at Android, “you shouldn’t think that similar technologies do not exist on the iPhone.”
“Here’s a striking example: hacking the iPhone of billionaire Jeff Bezos. They just sent him a video file on WhatsApp*, which he opened and lost all the important data from his phone. True, such technologies on the iPhone are very expensive and are not widely used. Basically, such techniques are available only to intelligence and special services,” the specialist added.
Answering the question about whether the user can recognize the attacker, RT’s interlocutor noted that everything looks as if an acquaintance is writing to the person and it is not possible to recognize the hack.
“The most important rule from now on and forever is that you do not need to install any applications if someone sent them to you… If someone, supposedly on behalf of the bank, sends you a link or file, here you need to remember the golden rule : “healthy distrust is a good basis for any correspondence,” Kosarev recalled.
He also paid special attention to the differences between certain file types.
“If they send you a photo, then in any messenger it is displayed as a thumbnail photo. And if it is a file that can install a portable program on your phone, then it will not be displayed as a photo – without Preview. Therefore, any links that cannot be identified as known and 100% understandable, any files even from people known and close to you who could theoretically be hacked, should not be opened on your devices,” concluded RT’s interlocutor.
Earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that Telegram users began to receive personal messages with attached files that may contain a virus.
* Product Meta, activity recognized as extremist, prohibited in Russia by decision of the Tverskoy Court of Moscow dated March 21, 2022.
Source: russian.rt.com
