Fake Reading App Steals Facebook Accounts

What to do if your social media account is hacked

Schoolyard Bully has been around since 2018; it is just one of 37 dangerous apps recently discovered to be afflicting damages to Android devices. The group of malicious malware apps disguises as educational applications created to assist individuals with reading. However, they were discovered to be far from the educational services advertised by the developers.

Schoolyard Bully was recently linked to criminal hackers; it steals Facebook login information from Android phones, once downloaded from the Google Play Store.

The latest check on the Google Play platform reveals that the Trojan infected application is no longer available for download. And according to Zimperium researchers, the hackers target mostly individuals in Vietnam. In addition, the operation spans 71 countries with approximately 300,000 downloads on Android devices.

FlyTrap and Schoolyard Bully Apps

Zimperium’s recent analysis claims that once activated on the infected devices; it can legitimately access the victim’s Facebook account and steals the login credentials. They have also noticed that the Android malware embeds itself in the Facebook login page using WebView. Then, it injects its maliciously coded JavaScript that steals the information that a user inputs.

So far, the Schoolyard Bully threat actors remain anonymous and are unrelated to the spyware operation known as FlyTrap. This is another dangerous app that hijacks the Facebook accounts of mostly Vietnamese citizens.

What do I do if I’ve been hacked on Facebook?

This is one of the questions asked by victims of social engineering attacks. Hackers are known to target social media followers and hijack their accounts to spread spyware virus and offensive content. However, the easiest way that criminal hackers can steal Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram account is through malicious apps. These are usually disguised as necessary apps that will enhance user experience on Android devices.

Most threat actors are excellent app developers, with their knowledge they are able to inject their harmful codes into apps that are mostly found on Google Play, Apple Store, and other third-party application download websites.

The risk only occurs after the app is downloaded by an Android device user, who would find the app useful to enhance the usability of their tech gadgets. However, once activated the malicious app goes to work, whereby hijacking the device to use in click fraud campaigns and stealing important data like login information mostly linked to social media sites. These dangerous apps are also notorious for stealing bank account login information.

How to prevent social media hacks

Fortunately, you can protect your social media accounts by utilizing the following steps:

You must effectively defend your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media accounts against dangerous hacking attacks.

You must research and check for negative reviews on apps you are about to download from any Android platform. The rule of thumb is that if your are suspicious about an app, then do not download it, as prevention is always easier than a cure.

If you suspect that your phone is always low on battery power, chances are it is being utilized secretly by criminal hackers. You must delete all unused apps, as well as those reported to be coded with malicious malware and spyware. You can check our site often to get the latest updates on dangerous apps linked dark web hackers.

Save your password in a separate location, and make it simple for you to remember but hard for intruders to guess.

2FA authentication on separate devices, you could use an email address on your laptop, or another phone. Two-factor authenticated access makes it impossible for hackers to breach your account.

These are just a few of the measures you could implement to permanently keep hackers from accessing your account and stealing your private data.