ESET Research: New NGate hides in NFC payment app, possibly built with AI
Source: The Manila times
Published on: 2026-04-21 09:26
* ESET researchers discovered a new NGate malware variant abusing the legitimate Android HandyPay application. * To trojanize HandyPay, threat actors most likely used GenAI. * The campaign has been ongoing since November 2025 and targets Android users in Brazil. * ESET investigated two NGate samples being distributed in the attacks: one via a fake lottery website, the other through a fake Google Play website. BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, April 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ESET Research has discovered a new variant of the NGate malware family that abuses a legitimate Android application called HandyPay, instead of the previously leveraged NFCGate tool. The threat actors took the app, which is used to relay NFC data, and patched it with malicious code that appears to have been AI generated. As with previous iterations of NGate, the malicious code allows the attackers to transfer NFC data from ...
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