Copycat ‘Pokémon Go’ App Wreaking Havoc With Droidjack Android Malware

With Nintendo's latest game - a mobile one, at that - the company has proven that there is still a lot of innovating to do in the market. While Pokemon GO is based on another title, Ingress, any game is going to have a greater chance of success when it features one of the most popular franchises ever. GO isn't just some regular Pokemon game: it's making the masses realize that augmented reality can be really cool.

What's not cool, though, is that popular mobile apps are a hot target for malware. And since Pokemon GO hasn't been released worldwide yet, many have taken to the scarier parts of the Web to score an APK that will allow them to play it right now. As you might imagine, that's bound to end up causing some issues with certain users.

According to research firm Proofpoint, an APK (Android installer) of Pokemon GO has likely been making its way onto phones that bundle in a remote access tool called Droidjack. Once installed, this malware would effectively give an attacker full control over the device.

Proofpoint doesn't have proof of successful infections yet, but it really is only a matter of time. This problem highlights yet again that while Android allows you to install out-of-store apps, you need to use extreme caution when doing so. The most important piece of advice? Make sure any site you do download an APK from is trustworthy.

Nintendo itself could have helped here by simply rolling out the game to the entire world all at once, but we're sure if that were possible, the company would have done it. Either way, it's always unfortunate that malicious users are always so quick to prey on unsuspecting users simply looking to have some fun.