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Mantax OTAX Android Ransomware Spies on Users, Steals OTPs and Encrypts Files

New Android malware family Mantax OTAX combines ransomware, spyware, and OTP theft via sideloaded APKs, linked to Indonesian threat actors.

Researchers at zLabs and Zimperium analyzed Mantax OTAX, an aggressive Android malware strain distributed as sideloaded APKs through phishing and messaging lures on third-party file-sharing services. The malware requests device-administrator and Accessibility permissions to steal lock-screen PINs, intercept SMS one-time passwords, harvest contacts and history, capture screens via MediaProjection, and silently photograph victims, while encrypting files with AES and writing .enc files on Android 9 and older. Its C2 uses HTTPS at apimantax[.]otax[.]fun with the active domain fetched dynamically from a GitHub repository, and a newer version adds WebSocket communication, app blocking, video overlays, and text-to-speech harassment. A Firebase misconfiguration exposed extortion conversations and victim data, and Android 10+ Scoped Storage limits the encryption reach but not the surveillance capabilities.

GBHackersupdated · 5d agofirst · 5d agoMalware in the wild 6 sources1

ThreatsDay: 296K IoT Botnet, 100+ Water Systems Targeted, SharePoint RCE Chain + 27 New Stories

Weekly ThreatsDay bulletin details a ShinyHunters-style social engineering hit on ReliaQuest, the 296,000-device Dysphoria IoT botnet, and several new malware families.

ReliaQuest confirmed a social engineering attack on August 22, 2026, in which an attacker used a fake SSO page and MFA push approval to gain brief view-only access to an identity dashboard, with tactics matching ShinyHunters, which has since listed the firm on its leak portal. The Shadowserver Foundation reported the Dysphoria botnet has compromised nearly 296,000 IoT devices for DDoS attacks and recently added residential proxy capability. Cisco Talos documented JWR, an operator-driven phishing-as-a-service framework linked to The Outsider that harvests credentials, identity documents, and 2FA codes over an encrypted WebSocket. New malware coverage includes the Octagon Android fraud bot ($1,400/month), the C2Looper Rust backdoor delivered via ClickFix, and the Aeternum loader that moved C2 to the Polygon blockchain.

The Hacker News · 15d agoMalware in the wild

ToxicPanda 2.0 and GoldDigger Expand Android Banking Attacks with On

Zimperium and IBM Trusteer report expanded ToxicPanda 2.0 and GoldDigger Android banking trojan campaigns now targeting 349 financial institutions across 16 countries.

Zimperium zLabs reports ToxicPanda 2.0 (TgToxic) now carries 167 remote commands, targets 349 financial institutions across 16 countries via more than 140 banking and cryptocurrency apps, and abuses Android Wireless Debugging via ADB for privilege escalation and shell access. It harvests lock screen PINs with fake overlays, steals UI elements via accessibility services, sets Device Administrator privileges, and is distributed through Amazon AWS-hosted buckets. IBM Trusteer documents a GoldDigger campaign impersonating airline companies and shopping retailers, causing massive infections in South Africa and the U.K., obfuscated with the dpt-shell packer that detects Frida and resists debugging. GoldDigger performs on-device fraud by injecting input into banking apps and is attributed to the Chinese-speaking GoldFactory actor.

The Hacker News · 23d agoMalware in the wild