Chinese hackers are using one of the most popular media players, VLC, to spread a virus.
Cybersecurity experts have observed a widespread, long-running campaign of spyware viruses, which may be the work of a hacker gang linked to the Chinese government. A Bleeping Computer report says the campaign is being used for espionage and has already succeeded in attacking several organisations involved in government, legal and religious activities.
According to cybersecurity experts from Symantec's Threat Hunter Team, the hacker gang in question is Cicada, also known as Stone Panda or Red Apollo, who have been active for more than 15 years. The campaign mainly targets the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Turkey, Israel, India, Montenegro and Italy.
It has recently been discovered that Cicada also distributes a malicious program via VLC, which exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange to gain access to victims' computers. The attack is believed to have started sometime last summer, but is still active today.
To avoid similar attacks, experts say it is important to keep security software up to date, use strong passwords and always back up important data.
Recently also available on the Google Play Store found at The problematic apps include a virus called Octo, which can monitor what is happening on a user's mobile screen and even transmit the characters they type to fraudsters, who can then gain access to sensitive financial data.