Home / malware Trojan:AndroidOS/Tapsnake
First posted on 18 August 2010.
Source: SecurityHomeAliases :
There are no other names known for Trojan:AndroidOS/Tapsnake.
Explanation :
Also known as a trojan horse program, this is a deceptive program that performs additional actions without the user's knowledge or permission. It does not replicate.
Additional DetailsTrojan:AndroidOS/Tapsnake (also identified as Android.Tapsnake) is a spy tool that disguises itself as mobile game. Installation of the trojan requires the user/attacker to have physical access to the target phone.
Once installed, the trojan runs perpetually in the background, constantly reporting the phone's location to a remote server.
This trojan is further discussed in our Labs Weblog:
€ Android Game Isn't Actually a Game
Installation
This trojan is distributed through the Android Market and is explicitly promoted as a spy program disguised as a mobile game. The spy program is a commercial application known as GPS SPY.
Once bought, the trojan advises the user to download and install the "Tap Snake game" to the target phone.
Installation also requires the game to be registered with a keycode in order to enable spying.This requires the person installing this program to have physical access to the target phone.
Execution
On execution, the trojan launches a game based on the old (but still popular) game Snake:
In addition to the game, the trojan has two other features. Once installed, the trojan runs silently and continuously in the background, restarting itself automatically if the phone is rebooted. In addition, every 15 minutes the game silently reports the GPS location of the phone to a server.
These functionalities are clearly stated in application's resources access list:
Detection
F-Secure Mobile Security 6 for Android protects Android handsets against GPS SPY and Tap Snake.Last update 18 August 2010
