This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post.
Undeniably, smartphones and mobile devices are one of the most personal gadgets we own, and we are using them increasingly for sensitive tasks such as banking, email access, social networking and health related monitoring. As we spend more and more time on our smartphones, these become very attractive targets for third parties who want to access our sensitive information.
Over the past few years, there has been a rise in mobile malware, which are software built to attack mobile operating systems. You might have heard of some common malware genres such as spyware, adware, trojans, and viruses. These are commonly injected into your smartphones through pop-ups or clickbait-y links.
And it seems as though a nasty malware has been spreading among WhatsApp users in Singapore over the past few days. It masks itself as a bitly link to a 7-Eleven voucher, and when you click on the link, it sends you to a dummy page which appears to be harmless. In actual fact, your device has already been infected with the malware. It’s likely to be spamming your contacts with the fake 7-Eleven bitly link as you read this.
If you come across this malicious link — or any other suspicious links, for that matter — what you should do is ask your friend what the content of the links are first, before clicking on it. Once your device gets infected, the malware will most likely piggyback on your network to spam your contacts, and it could be hard to remove the malware from your phone.
You’ll never know what the malware might be doing behind your back. For all you know, it could be downloading all your photos, emails and passwords and storing it somewhere else.
(Hat tip: Amelia)
