A security researcher has revealed that over 75,000 iOS devices have been infected with the malware known as AdThief or “Spad.”
iOS device users often use jailbreaking techniques, ignoring the security risks that come with exposing their system. In order to gain more features on their device, they unlock root, which gives them unrestricted access to their system files. It should be noted that Apple and several security researchers do not recommend it and that a jailbreak is always done at the end user's own risk.
However, according to researcher Axelle Apvrille, one malware is promoting various ad SDKs that have been modified by the developer and contain the hacker's ID. This means that the malware allows the hacker to collect all the revenue generated from the infected devices through ads.
15 advertising SDKs or adkits, including Google Mobile Ads and Weibo ads, were discovered to be used by the AdThief malware. The researcher was able to identify the AdThief developer from the malware’s source code. The developer, known online under the aliases “rover12421” and “zerofile,” is an Android developer who admitted to developing the malware and said he has stopped it.
The developer said he only developed the basic ID replacement functionality and that someone else could continue development. Of course, he denied that the spread of the malware that has affected a large number of devices and that he managed to grab revenue from 22 million ads.
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