October 8, 2019 By Shane Schick 2 min read

Researchers claimed a banking botnet dubbed Geost has provided attackers access to account information and other data on more than 800,000 Android users since 2016.

As outlined by a new paper released during the Virus Bulletin conference in London by a group that included Czech Technical University in Prague, Argentina’s UNCUYO University and security firm Avast, the campaign involved 13 command-and-control (C&C) servers running hundreds of domains.

A Peek Behind the Curtain of the Geost Botnet

Some basic errors in IT security exposed the banking botnet and even some of the behind-the-scenes conversations among those running it. While using a tool that facilitates private communications called HtBot, the attackers failed to encrypt their data, revealing what they were doing with the botnet, according to the researchers.

The campaign’s approach involved taking legitimate apps within the Google Play store and editing them to include malicious code before making them available on third-party sites for download. Anyone who installed the apps — which included not only banking apps but also games and social media tools — unknowingly allowed malware to monitor their text messages. Geost’s targets included the customers of at least five banks in Eastern Europe and Russia, where banking passwords are sometimes sent via SMS.

If the attackers failed to get account credentials that way, the botnet served up pop-ups within apps asking for login details directly from Android users.

Beyond the technical details behind the botnet, the chat logs from HtBot offered a rare glimpse into the interpersonal relationships among those involved in cybercriminal activity, the researchers noted. Some admitted to feeling “demotivated” despite Geost’s financial success, for example, and one even said he was “not in,” even after being goaded by his colleague to “stand together.”

How to Defend Against Banking Botnets

There is a long history of users innocently installing apps that turn out to be malware or contain malicious code. As always, policies that restrict downloads to trusted sites and app stores are an IT team’s best defense against this type of threat.

Unified endpoint management (UEM) tools provide an extra layer of protection by automating the process of both detecting and remediating any suspicious activity that comes from apps or other sources.

More from

When ransomware kills: Attacks on healthcare facilities

4 min read - As ransomware attacks continue to escalate, their toll is often measured in data loss and financial strain. But what about the loss of human life? Nowhere is the ransomware threat more acute than in the healthcare sector, where patients’ lives are literally on the line.Since 2015, there has been a staggering increase in ransomware attacks on healthcare facilities. And the impacts are severe: Diverted emergency services, delayed critical treatments and even fatalities. Meanwhile, the pledge some ransomware groups made during…

AI and cloud vulnerabilities aren’t the only threats facing CISOs today

6 min read - With cloud infrastructure and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI) systems becoming prime targets for attackers, security leaders are laser-focused on defending these high-profile areas. They’re right to do so, too, as cyber criminals turn to new and emerging technologies to launch and scale ever more sophisticated attacks.However, this heightened attention to emerging threats makes it easy to overlook traditional attack vectors, such as human-driven social engineering and vulnerabilities in physical security.As adversaries exploit an ever-wider range of potential entry points…

4 trends in software supply chain security

4 min read - Some of the biggest and most infamous cyberattacks of the past decade were caused by a security breakdown in the software supply chain. SolarWinds was probably the most well-known, but it was not alone. Incidents against companies like Equifax and tools like MOVEit also wreaked havoc for organizations and customers whose sensitive information was compromised.Expect to see more software supply chain attacks moving forward. According to ReversingLabs' The State of Software Supply Chain Security 2024 study, attacks against the software…

Topic updates

Get email updates and stay ahead of the latest threats to the security landscape, thought leadership and research.
Subscribe today