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Kaspersky spots Zeus for BlackBerry

Malware authors express confidence in RIM’s future

While most of the world is treating the once-mighty BlackBerry as an also-ran in the smartphone market, malware authors still think it’s worth a crack – and have crafted a package designed to drop a Zeus malware variant on the device.

This post to Securelist by Kaspersky’s Denis Maslennikov details five new Zeus-in-the-mobile (ZitMo) files that have turned up in Europe. One of them is a dropper for Android, while the other four target the BlackBerry platform.

Dissecting the new samples, Maslennikov posits that the files could herald a new wave of Zeus attacks. BlackBerry is targeted by three .cod and one .jar file (which embeds a .cod file inside).

The BlackBerry files target users in Germany, Italy, Spain and France, with command and control numbers tracked back to Swedish mobile operator Tele2. The Android variant is specific to Germany.

If the attack is successfully installed, it’s designed to redirect financial verification code messages to the C&C number (although in the case of the Android version, all SMSs are forwarded). Maslennikov also spots a couple of new functions in the code designed to notify the C&C that the malware has been successfully installed.

Maslennikov says the certificate date in the Android application suggests the software was written during July. ®

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