Obad Android trojan spreads through mobile botnets, other vectors

Researchers have discovered that the sophisticated Android trojan Obad is being spread via mobile botnets.

According to Roman Unuchek, a Kaspersky researcher who blogged about the threat on Thursday, primarily Russian users have been targeted with spam text messages containing malicious links that install another Android trojan called Opfake. Once the user installs Opfake, the malware command-and-control server instructs the trojan to spam out messages to victims' contacts, which directs them to the trojan Obad.

According to Unuchek, the findings present noteworthy activity: botnets being used to spread multiple types of mobile malware.

To spread the trojans, Obad's operators also redirected users from infected websites to Obad installs and uploaded the malware to dubious app stores designed to look like reputable marketplaces, like Google Play.