Everything You Should Know About HummingWhale Malware

HummingWhale is a malicious malware that comes disguised within many different applications on the Play Store. Some experts think that this new variant of malware may have already been downloaded millions of times. You read that right: millions of people may already have this malware on their devices and not even know it.

The ideal way to prevent this type of malware from infecting your mobile device is to regularly scan your device for viruses, especially after you download a new app. Further, steer clear of suspicious or odd-looking apps in the Play Store. Click here to run a full virus scan of your device to check for HummingWhale malware and other viruses:

It isn’t called by its name, of course, on the Play Store. Instead it’s built into other apps that you’ll install for different reasons; you may find a new photo app, game, or maybe even a new theme that you like for your background. Any of those apps may come packed with HummingWhale malware that will infect your device without you even knowing it.

This type of malware is named “HummingWhale” because it’s considered to be a stronger form of the HummingBad malware that infected devices in 2016. While security patches were offered for that particular type of malware, HummingWhale malware is still at large. So far, Google has been able to remove about 20 infected apps from the Play Store, but it’s still unknown as to how far this malware stretches.

How HummingWhale Works

HummingWhale infects your phone or tablet with malicious adware and other viruses that make their creator hundreds of thousands of dollars a month — all at your expense. The app will even work hard to hide itself so that you can’t see it. That way, you won’t know immediately if you have it. It’s also much more difficult to remove than other types of malware.

One way to remove a particularly nasty strain of malware, is to backup your photos and everything on your device in order to perform a factory reset on your phone. This is a painful process, takes a lot of time, and even then the malware can potentially burrow into the data that you’ve backed up. You’re still at risk to having a malicious virus or losing photos you love. That’s why it’s important to regularly scan your device for malware so that any infections can be immediately removed.