2FA app with 10,000 Google Play downloads loaded well-known banking trojan [Ars Technica]

2FA Authenticator offered real 2FA functionality, but it came with strings attached.

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A fake two-factor-authentication app that has been downloaded some 10,000 times from Google Play surreptitiously installed a known banking-fraud trojan that scoured infected phones for financial data and other personal information, security firm Pradeo said.

2FA Authenticator went live on Google Play two weeks ago, posing as an alternative to legitimate 2FA apps from Google, Twilio, and other trusted companies. In fact, researchers from security firm Pradeo said on Thursday, the app steals personal data from user devices and uses it to determine whether infected phones should download and install a banking trojan already known to have infected thousands of phones in the past.

The malicious 2FA Authenticator has no connection to this 2FA Authenticator, which is also a mobile app, in this case for both iOS and Android, and there are no indications the latter is malicious in any way. A common tactic among malware purveyors is to name their apps after already-established title.

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