CopyCat Malware Campaign Affected 14M Android Devices

Researchers with Check Point Software Technologies say a malware campaign known as CopyCat successfully infected 14 million Android devices. By infecting those devices, the malware was able to generate $1.5 million from fraudulent app installs and advertising.

The malware operation was in full force from April to May of last year, spreading to many phones and tablets. Third-party app stores enabled the spread of the malware.

Since Google moved to address the problem back in 2016, there are only 50,000 devices still affected.

The CopyCat campaign gave hackers root control over ~8 million devices. It used its control to serve 100 million fraudulent ads and it installed 4.9 million apps.