Clippers are thus attractive to cybercriminals interested in stealing cryptocurrency because addresses of online cryptocurrency wallets are composed of long strings of characters, and instead of typing them, users tend to copy and paste the addresses using the clipboard. We will not go into the threat actors behind the apps, as there are several of them.īefore briefly describing those app clusters though, what is a clipper and why would cyberthieves use one? Loosely, in malware circles, a clipper is a piece of malicious code that copies or modifies content in a system’s clipboard. For better ease of analysis and explanation, we split the apps into several clusters based on those functionalities in this blogpost, we will describe four clusters of Android clippers and two clusters of malicious Windows apps. On the other hand, WhatsApp’s source code is not publicly available, which means that before repackaging the application with malicious code, the threat actors first had to perform an in-depth analysis of the app’s functionality to identify the specific places to be modified.ĭespite serving the same general purpose, the trojanized versions of these apps contain various additional functionalities. Since Telegram is an open-source app, altering its code while keeping the app’s messaging functionality intact is relatively straightforward. Overview of the trojanized appsĭue to the different architecture of Telegram and WhatsApp, the threat actors had to choose a different approach to create trojanized versions of each of the two. Of course, these are not the only copycat applications to go after cryptocurrencies – just at the beginning of 2022, we identified threat actors focused on repackaging legitimate cryptocurrency applications that try to steal recovery phrases from their victims’ wallets. In addition to the trojanized WhatsApp and Telegram Android apps, we also found trojanized Windows versions of the same apps. The main purpose of the clippers we discovered is to intercept the victim’s messaging communications and replace any sent and received cryptocurrency wallet addresses with addresses belonging to the attackers. As is unfortunately shown by our latest findings, this action did not succeed in weeding the problem out completely: not only did we identify the first instant messaging clippers, we uncovered several clusters of them. Prior to the establishment of the App Defense Alliance, we discovered the first Android clipper on Google Play, which led to Google improving Android security by restricting system-wide clipboard operations for apps running in the background for Android versions 10 and higher. In addition to clippers, we also found remote access trojans (RATs) bundled with malicious Windows versions of WhatsApp and Telegram.Some of the clippers abuse optical character recognition to extract text from screenshots and steal cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases.The malware can switch the cryptocurrency wallet addresses the victim sends in chat messages for addresses belonging to the attacker.Threat actors are going after victims’ cryptocurrency funds using trojanized Telegram and WhatsApp applications for Android and Windows.ESET Research has found the first instance of clippers built into instant messaging apps. Last month, ECOMMPAY launched its new open banking payment system for businesses in the UK. It is also a member of Visa Direct, and the first acquirer to implement a Mastercard Dashboard. Seamless transactions and a great user experience are a vitally important part of improving conversion rates in business, and by integrating with Telegram we’ll help more businesses increase their revenues and audience engagement.”ĮCOMMPAY is a principal member of Visa and Mastercard, as well as the first PSP on the PayPal Commerce Platform. It also offers 24×7 payment processing, tailored payment solutions, fraud protection and customer support.ĮCOMMPAY executive director Paul Marcantonio said: “There is rarely an ‘off the shelf’ solution for companies integrating payments, as every customer is different and there has to be a balance between the merchant’s and the customer’s needs. Launched in 2012, ECOMMPAY has a global presence with six international offices in Asia, Europe, Africa, Russia and the UK.ĮCOMMPAY provides businesses with over 100 payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, through a single integration.
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