The malware targets devices running on Android 7 or 8 and packs a banking trojan, keylogger, and ransomware, making it more harmful than any other known recent malware, according to Foss Bytes. The malware is similar to LokiBot, which wreaked havoc in 2017 by turning to ransomware when attempted to remove.

What makes the malware extremely harmful is its exceptional capabilities to take complete control over users’ devices. Besides having generic Android banking trojan functionalities, MysteryBot exhibits extraordinary overlay, keylogging, and ransomware functionalities. Thus, its ransomware component encrypts all files individually in the external storage directory, including every subdirectory, after which the original files are deleted.

In response to reports about MysteryBot Android Malware, Samuel Bakken, Senior Product Marketing Manager, OneSpan agrees that as more users adopt mobile banking, it becomes all the more a target. Attackers invest significant time and resources to find ways to defraud banks and their customers. Therefore, banks and financial institutions cant count on the mobile platform providers alone to keep them secure.