How to Protect Android Apps Against Medusa Malware
Learn how to detect and protect against Medusa Android malware in Android apps using Appdome’s no-code unified mobile app defense platform.
What is Medusa?
Medusa is a sophisticated Android banking trojan targeting financial institutions primarily in Europe. It spreads through malicious apps and phishing links, often disguised as legitimate applications. Once installed, Medusa abuses Android’s accessibility services to perform overlay attacks, creating fake login screens to steal sensitive financial information, such as banking credentials and credit card details. It also intercepts SMS messages, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes, enabling attackers to bypass MFA protections and execute Account Takeovers (ATOs).
Medusa’s most dangerous capability is its real-time remote control feature. By exploiting accessibility permissions, it allows attackers to remotely view the device’s screen and simulate user actions, such as entering credentials and performing banking transactions. Through an encrypted connection with its command-and-control (C2) server, attackers can send remote commands to interact with apps, transfer funds, and carry out other fraudulent activities, all while monitoring the device in real time. Medusa can also use pre-configured scripts to automate these actions, making it even more efficient at executing complex attacks without user awareness.
With its ability to combine credential theft, remote control, and automation, Medusa is a highly effective tool for financial fraud and identity theft on Android devices.
How Does Appdome Protect Against Medusa?
Taking all the above into consideration, you can use Appdome to protect against Medusa using a combination of the following protection methods:
- RASP – Prevents Medusa from injecting itself into installed apps and repackaging them. Also includes anti-tampering, anti-debugging, anti-emulator, and other protections against dynamic attacks at runtime.
- Code Obfuscation – Protects against decompiling and malicious reverse engineering.
- Root Detection – Protects mobile apps from running on rooted devices, which bypass Android’s security controls. Rooting exposes apps to tampering, data theft, and malware by giving attackers elevated access to system files and app data.
- Block App Overlay Attacks – Detects and prevents fake/malicious screen overlays from displaying on top of the app screen and concealing the legitimate app screen. Mobile malware and Trojans like Medusa use overlay attacks to trick users into revealing sensitive information or performing harmful actions inadvertently.
- Keylogging Prevention – Prevents the use of malicious keyloggers which may be used to intercept two-factor authentication codes or harvest sensitive information.
- Prevent Accessibility Services Malware – Prevents malicious actions taken by malware that exploit Android’s AccessibilityService, which when abused can be used to intercept sensitive inputs like passwords and 2FA codes, take screenshots, and simulate user actions such as taps and swipes. This allows attackers to manipulate apps, steal data, impersonate the real user, or perform fraudulent transactions without the user’s knowledge.
- Block Remote Desktop Exploits – Anti Remote Desktop Control detects 3rd party apps that attempt to remotely control the protected application. Also prevents the abuse of accessibility services that leverage on-screen actions, such as remote desktop control applications.
- Google Play Store Signature Validation – Protects against fake apps, clones, masquerading, which malware often do to trick users into performing harmful actions.
Each of the protections above are linked to the relevant knowledge base article for that feature, which provide detailed information about each feature and also explain how to implement the protection in your Android app.
Prerequisites
To use Appdome’s to protect Android apps against Medusa, you’ll need the following:
- Appdome account (create a free Appdome account here)
- A license for the relevant features mentioned above.
- Mobile App (.apk or .aab for Android)
- Signing Credentials (see Signing Secure Android apps).
Related Articles:
- How to Protect Android Apps Against CraxsRAT Malware
- How to Protect Android Apps Against FjordPhantom Malware
- How to Protect Android Apps Against Panda Malware
- How to Protect Android Apps Against Brokewell Malware
- How to Protect Android Apps Against Hiddad Malware
If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.
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