CBI issues alert to states, UTs on Cerberus that hits mobile phones

The CBI has alerted police forces and central security agencies on an Interpol input about a malicious software, Cerberus, that infects phones to steal financial data by luring the user through SMSes, camouflaged as Covid-19 information, to download links containing the virus, officials said Tuesday.
 

A banking Trojan known as Cerberus is used by cybercriminals internationally and it is taking advantage of the novel coronavirus pandemic to impersonate and send SMSes under the cover of Covid-19-related content, asking innocuous users to download an embedded malicious link, they said. Once downloaded the link, infects the phone deploying its malicious application that is used by phishing gangs to steal bank-related financial information of the user from the phone, they said.
 

After getting the global input, the agency, which is mandated to coordinate with the International Police Organisation Interpol as the National Central Bureau for India, alerted police forces of all states and union territories, besides central security agencies, the officials said.