This article has been created in order to help you by explaining how you can remove the Fortnite Andorid virus from your smartphone or tablet.
Fortnite has become quite a popular game and is now played by a lot of gamers on PC. But with the news that Fortnite is coming to mobile devices, scammers have started to create fake applications, like Fortnite Mobile – a fake application which poses as the real Fortnite app, but instead it runs in the background and conducts series of malicious activities on your device if installed. If you have the fake Fortnite Mobil app on your computer, we advise that you read this article to learn more about it and how you can remove it plus any malicious apps from your smartphone completely.
Threat Summary
| Name | Fortnite Mobile Virus |
| Type | Android Virus application. |
| Short Description | Obtains critical Android permissions after which downloads fake apps and sends messages. |
| Symptoms | An app, same as Fortnite, called Fortnite Mobile is installed on your Android device. The app may pretend to download content for the game when you open it, but the download may be just a pretext to perform it’s malicious activities. |
| Distribution Method | Via malicious URLs that are put in the descriptions of YouTube videos. |
| User Experience | Join Our Forum to Discuss Fortnite Mobile Virus. |
”Fortnite Mobile” Android Virus – How Did I Get It
The main way of propagation of this virus has been detected by ESET malware researchers Lukas Stefanko who shot a video of how users can become misled into downloading fortnite after watching a fake youtube video.
Example how you can get infected by downloading #Fortnite Android app from YouTube video with 130K+ views.
This one send SMS to premium rate number and downloads another fake app. pic.twitter.com/pYj8GZoqoZ— Lukas Stefanko (@LukasStefanko) June 21, 2018
What follows after users watch the video is that if they are convinced to download the app from the link in the description underneath the video. The link transfers users to a website, which pretends to be the original Fortnite site and has a Download button. What follows is that an .apk file of the third-party app is then downloaded on the device of the victim. What is interesting is that the app is a third-party type of software, which is usually not able to be installed by default on Android devices, but it somehow manages to bypass this protection.
“Fortnite Mobile” Fake Android App – Analysis
The Fortnite Mobile fake app demands different permissions from it’s users, most of which are extremely invasive:
- Send SMS messages.
- Obtain your exact location via GPS and network data.
- Modify and delete files and content from your device’s memory.
- Obtain full network access from mobile and wi-fi connection.
- Obtain the ability to run on system boot.
- Obtain permissions to control vibration and stop your phone from going into sleep mode.
- Obtain read and write permissions.
These permissions may be used by this Android app for malicious reasons as the researcher reports. The application’s main goal however is to ask the victim to allow an update to go through. The update’s main goal Is to get victims to wait and do nothing. But the app does a hell of a lot besides just update Android devices.
The main activity of this application is to get the device to download and install various different fake applications in the background but also send SMS messages and automatically accept the monetizing process in order to possibly generate money to the cyber-criminals who have developed the fake applications. This is done via pay-per-install schemes and the SMS message surveys may be to subscription plans which not only may take money from your phone bill once but do this regularly each month or even each day. Only one more reason to fully secure your device against such apps.
Remove Fortnite Mobile Fake Android App and Secure Your Device
You should remove this App from your device. You should check out the tool below to keep your device secure at all times.
Ventsislav Krastev
Ventsislav is a cybersecurity expert at SensorsTechForum since 2015. He has been researching, covering, helping victims with the latest malware infections plus testing and reviewing software and the newest tech developments. Having graduated Marketing as well, Ventsislav also has passion for learning new shifts and innovations in cybersecurity that become game changers. After studying Value Chain Management, Network Administration and Computer Administration of System Applications, he found his true calling within the cybersecrurity industry and is a strong believer in the education of every user towards online safety and security.
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