Quote:A new ransomware family targeting Android devices spreads to other victims by sending text messages containing malicious links to the entire contact list found on already infected targets.
 
The malware dubbed Android/Filecoder.C (FileCoder) by the ESET research team which discovered it is currently targeting devices running Android 5.1 or later.
 
"Due to narrow targeting and flaws in both execution of the campaign and implementation of its encryption, the impact of this new ransomware is limited," ESET's researchers found.
 
"After the ransomware sends out this batch of malicious SMSes, it encrypts most user files on the device and requests a ransom. Due to flawed encryption, it is possible to decrypt the affected files without any assistance from the attacker," adds ESET.
 
Despite this, if the ransomware's developers manage to fix their "product," a lot of Android users could be exposed to a very dangerous and potentially highly destructive malware strain.