Kaspersky Lab researchers found the malware lurking in about 20 bogus apps. The researchers decided to infect an Android phone with the malware, which wrecked the phone within 48 hours.
Cryptocurrency miners are known to cause wear and tear on hardware by using a CPU to solve a cryptographic challenge. This generates a hash that earns the miner a cryptocurrency reward, which in this case goes to Loapi's makers, rather than the device's rightful owner.
Loapi uses Android phones to mine the bitcoin-alternative Monero. It's not the first Android malware to attempt this, but it's unusual for a miner to cause this much damage in such a short time.
The bloated battery after its 48 hours in the mines.
Image: Kaspersky Lab
The Loapi Trojan can turn your phone into cryptocurrency miner and bake the battery to its death. Android apps with hidden coin miners have been showing up with greater frequency, including in apps distributed on Google Play
Icons of fake apps in which Loapi conceals itself
Trojan Loapi for Android: Tinker, tailor, soldier, cryptominer
Android security: Coin miners show up in apps and sites to wear out your CPU | ZDNet
Beware! This malware can literally bake and burn your smartphone
This crypto-mining Android malware is so demanding it burst a smartphone | ZDNet
Cryptocurrency miners are known to cause wear and tear on hardware by using a CPU to solve a cryptographic challenge. This generates a hash that earns the miner a cryptocurrency reward, which in this case goes to Loapi's makers, rather than the device's rightful owner.
Loapi uses Android phones to mine the bitcoin-alternative Monero. It's not the first Android malware to attempt this, but it's unusual for a miner to cause this much damage in such a short time.
The bloated battery after its 48 hours in the mines.
Image: Kaspersky Lab
The Loapi Trojan can turn your phone into cryptocurrency miner and bake the battery to its death. Android apps with hidden coin miners have been showing up with greater frequency, including in apps distributed on Google Play
Icons of fake apps in which Loapi conceals itself
Trojan Loapi for Android: Tinker, tailor, soldier, cryptominer
Android security: Coin miners show up in apps and sites to wear out your CPU | ZDNet
Beware! This malware can literally bake and burn your smartphone
This crypto-mining Android malware is so demanding it burst a smartphone | ZDNet
