By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 30 Oct 2015 • 16:18
THE UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed a 28-year-old man had been arrested on October 30 after a raid over smartphone malware.
Officers raided several properties in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland on suspicion of using the malware known as DroidJack. No further arrests have been made yet.
AFP and Reuters news agencies reported the searches, but Europol say more searches were carried out in the United States too.
Reuter news agencies said one home in Switzerland and 13 homes in Germany were raided.
DroidJack only affects Android devices and is openly sold online for €191,81 (£137).
Criminals are able to spy on smartphone data traffic, hijack the camera and invade conversation privacy using DroidJack.
Symantec’s principal security response manager Peter Coogan told the BBC: “It can track a user’s every move without their knowledge. There was a documented case back in 2014. I think where it was being sent out via spam email and pretending to be a bank. It is likely at that time that they were trying to steal banking details off the phone.”
He added: “More people will have purchased it and are probably using it.”
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