Russian cybersecurity firm F6 said Android apps marketed as tools for finding gasoline, spotting traffic police and tracking drone strikes instead install malware that can steal data from phones, The Record reported Tuesday¹.

One lure, aimed at drivers, claimed to show police patrols, speed cameras and gas stations that still had fuel, according to F6 as cited by The Record¹. The researchers said the apps delivered ZloyRAT, an Android trojan they first identified earlier this year that can collect sensitive information and use device functions¹.

The same campaign also pushed GosuVPN, advertised as a free government-backed way to reach the open internet, and Drone Radar, which claimed to map drone attacks in real time, The Record said, citing F6¹. All three apps were promoted through a website registered in early October; F6 said it asked that the site be blocked in Russia¹.

F6 did not identify the operator and did not say how many people downloaded the apps or whether anyone lost money, according to the report¹. Infected phones may also run more slowly, researchers said¹.

The Record said the campaign sits in a wider set of scams that exploit fuel shortages and drone-strike fears in Russia, which F6 linked in part to Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries¹. F6 reported finding more than 800 malware samples in apps sold as drone alerts, fuel maps, VPNs and similar tools¹.

Earlier this year F6 also described fake bulk-fuel sites under brands such as FuelDrive and Toplivo24, plus dozens of sites that posed as gas-station maps and were designed to hijack Telegram accounts, The Record said¹.

Sources

1. The RecordMalicious apps prey on Russians’ anxiety about fuel prices, drone strikes9:36 AM

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