Beware of the Godless Malware

You might have heard of the Godless Android malware that surfaced last month. This post explains some important facts around the malware, and how you can stay away from it.

What is the Godless Malware?
Carrying a bit of an intimidating name, ‘Godless’ is a malware that targets Android phones that run Android Lollipop 5.1 and earlier. The malware was found to be present on apps available in third-party stores and even official stores such as Google Play.

What does the Godless malware do?
Once the malware has successfully infected an Android phone, it roots the device. By ‘rooting’ it means to attain privileged control of the system to carry out tasks that cannot be performed otherwise. Once Godless has rooted the infected device, it performs the following operations:

• Steals the user’s Google account credentials
• Can install or uninstall shortcuts
• Installs unwanted apps which can act as backdoors to allow entry of additional malware
• Installs spyware that steal personal information

How Quick Heal helps?
Quick Heal Mobile Security Apps detects and blocks two variants of this malware viz. ‘Android.Godless.A’ & ‘Android.Godless.B’.

Safety precautions to take

• Avoid installing any app from unknown sources or third party app stores.
• Before installing any app, always review the developer. Check whether the developer has a legit website or not. Unknown developers are more likely to release malicious apps.
• Always review the permissions asked by an app. If a simple weather app wants to access your photos or call logs, then it is wise to avoid installing it.
• It is also helpful to review the ratings and comments given on an app. More often than not, users share their experience about how useful or useless an app is.
• Install a reliable mobile security app on your device that can block fake and harmful apps.

For a brief technical analysis of the Godless malware, please download the PDF below:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Subject Matter Expert –
Dadasaheb Udage (Threat Research and Response Team)

Rajiv Singha