Fake Angry Birds App Pit You Against Malware Instead of Alien Pigs

Angry Birds flew into the hearts of gamers all over the world to propel the game to cult status in a matter of months. The latest installment of the hit game, Angry Birds Space, was released in the last week of March. After three short days, the number of downloads for the game had already soared past 10 million.

As you all know, cybercriminals are always looking towards the next big thing to latch on to so they can spread their malicious bits of code. It was only a matter of time before they set their sights on Angry Birds.

Security experts at Sophos has warned users about an app that claims to be the Android version of the game. Once fired up, the app will install malware which would then give hackers to access your phone and allow them to control it remotely.

The Trojan horse, which Sophos detects as Andr/KongFu-L, appears to be a fully-functional version of the popular smartphone game, but uses the GingerBreak exploit to gain root access to the device, and install malicious code.

The Trojan communicates with a remote website in an attempt to download and install further malware onto the compromised Android smartphone.

-- Graham Cluley, Sophos senior technology consultant 

The game's developer, Rovio, has responded to these warnings by calling on gamers to skip any third parties and download the game straight from their website.

As you get ready to pop pigs in zero gravity, watch out for fake versions of Angry Birds Space, and make sure to download safe by getting the official game from Rovio.

-- Rovio

Article by Hazel Chua

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