Banking malware is rampant in the Czech Republic. Bypasses verification SMS. How to defend yourself?

Recently, attackers who specialize in circumventing bank security have focused on the Czechia. Malicious malware can even bypass two-phase bank security of SMS payments. How to defend against these insidious attacks?

ESET has issued a report on the increased incidence of Cerberus malware in the Czech Republic. This type of malware often gets on your phone thanks to another “infected” application, which itself may not be harmful, but it can download and install malware. Banking malware Cerberus focuses on circumvention of two-stage verification bank payments using SMS. It can rob users of online payments.

According to ESET, the vast majority of malware gets into phones from unofficial sources, so it is recommended to use only the official Google Play Store with Play Protect turned on. If you are still using the old method of verifying bank payments using SMS messages, then for sure we recommend to go at much safer standard PSD2. Most banks already offer this solution when it occurs payment verification using a banking application in your smartphone. As we have seen several times recently, thinking about what we install on your phone is also necessary when using Google Play.

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Source: ESET