Google Details Android Spyware

Don’t trust your phone:

Discovered late last year, Chrysaor is spyware believed to have been created by NSO Group Technologies, an Israel-based group which specializes in the development and sale of software exploits. It’s thought to be a descendant of the Pegasus spyware previously found on iOS, and made its way onto handsets through apps which weren’t available in the Google Play Store. The Android team says it has discovered Chrysaor on less than three dozen Android devices in total, and this, combined with the sophistication of the app’s capabilities (outlined below) indicates that the malware was used more as a tool for spies than as way to cajole money out of consumers. —– What’s possibly even more impressive/frightening is that Chrysaor can remove itself from a device if it becomes compromised — it can basically self-destruct.

If the app fails to interact with the Google server after 60 days, for example, indicating that it has been discovered, it will delete itself from the infected phone. It can also be extricated via a command from the server.

Private sector economic espionage is out there too, and it is pretty sophisticated. I cannot imagine how any startup with any sort of potential can get its feet off the ground without an understanding of the degree to which the big players will go to infiltrate, penetrate, or otherwise gain the upper hand through superior intelligence gathering.

The future looks more and more like a real dystopia, and much of it may actually be privatized, given the way things are going.

Tell everyone about r/K Theory, because it is getting harder and harder to keep it a secret lately