Cyberdudebivash

PhantomCard: The New Android Trojan — Security Analysis & Defender Playbook By CyberDudeBivash — Ruthless, Engineering-Grade Threat Intel for 2025

Author: CyberDudeBivash • Powered by: CyberDudeBivash
Links: cyberdudebivash.com | cyberbivash.blogspot.com
Hashtag: #cyberdudebivash

Executive summary

PhantomCard is an emerging Android banking/financial-theft Trojan built for the API-first, wallet-everywhere world. It blends classic mobile-banker tradecraft (Accessibility abuse, overlay screens, notification theft, ATS—Automatic Transfer System) with payment-era twists:

  • NFC/“card” abuse: attempts relay/fraud against contactless payment flows, harvests card-on-file tokens, and targets wallet apps.
  • Agentic automation: headless flows steered by Accessibility + MediaProjection to fill forms, confirm prompts, and bypass device protections.
  • Multi-channel exfiltration: blends HTTPS C2 with webhook drops (Telegram/Discord/Drive), and fallback SMS for low-signal regions.
  • Enterprise risk: BYOD devices can move stolen OTPs/session tokens into corporate SaaS, enabling account takeover and BEC-style fraud.

Bottom line: treat PhantomCard as a modern mobile ATS with payment overlay & NFC-relay capability. Harden devices, strip app over-privilege, monitor for the very specific component/permission patterns below, and respond fast.

Threat anatomy (kill chain)

  1. Initial access
    • Sideloaded APK via smishing/QR “billing” links, fake wallet/parcel apps, SEO-poisoned download sites.
    • Dropper on Play-adjacent stores that later pulls payload; abuses REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES.
    • Socially engineered toggle of Accessibility + Draw over other apps.
  2. Execution
    • Payload unpacked from assets/DEX; dynamic load via DexClassLoader.
    • Bootstraps foreground service; registers JobScheduler tasks for resiliency.
  3. Privilege & persistence
    • Requests: BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE, SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW, USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT, QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES, FOREGROUND_SERVICE, RECEIVE_SMS/READ_SMS (older Android), POST_NOTIFICATIONS, READ_LOGS (on rooted).
    • Optional DeviceAdminReceiver for uninstall resistance.
  4. Defense evasion
    • String encryption + reflection; emulator and Play Protect checks; certificate pinning; blocks user navigation to app-uninstall via Accessibility.
  5. C2 & automation
    • JSON command set: overlay template IDs, target package list, ATS steps, data exfil endpoints, update URLs.
    • Fallback SMS C2 using short encoded beacons.
  6. Actions on objectives
    • Overlay phishing on targeted banking/wallet/UPI apps.
    • NFC “phantom” flow: attempts to proxy wallet tap/approve screens, or exfil wallet one-time tokens to a mule device (relay).
    • OTP/notification hijack: intercepts SMS/notification content to complete 2FA.
    • Session theft: steals auth cookies/tokens from embedded WebView apps or via notification actions.

What makes PhantomCard different

  • Payment-first overlays: library of highly polished overlays for wallet/BNPL/UPI/crypto apps, adaptive to locale/brand.
  • NFC & wallet targeting: monitors android.nfc.action.ADAPTER_STATE_CHANGED and wallet package intents; triggers overlay at payment time.
  • Automatic Transfer System (ATS) 2.0: scripts for navigating biometrics fallback paths (PIN/Pattern), toggling “Do not disturb” to hide OTP.
  • Data minimization to evade DLP: exfiltrates only the fields needed for a transaction, keeping payloads small and less suspicious.

Indicators & telemetry (what to hunt)

These are behavioral indicators you can implement today. Replace placeholder strings with your intel feed when available.

Manifest / components (static)

  • Permissions combo (red flag together):
    BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE, SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW, REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES, USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT, QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES, FOREGROUND_SERVICE, RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED, PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS, BIND_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SERVICE.
  • Services: custom *.AccessibilityService, *.NotificationListenerService, long-running ForegroundService.
  • Receivers: boot completed, package added/removed, connectivity change, NFC adapter state.

Runtime (dynamic)

  • Continuous calls to Settings.canDrawOverlays() followed by user prompt loops.
  • Accessibility events focused on targeted finance packages (open, view text, click).
  • Creation of full-screen, non-dismissable TYPE_APPLICATION_OVERLAY windows.
  • Silent toggling of DND/notifications via Accessibility actions.
  • MediaProjection API requests without visible user recording intent.

File paths / artifacts

  • Encrypted config under /Android/data/<random>/.cfg or /storage/emulated/0/.system/<random>
  • Overlay HTML/PNG sets in app internal cache with finance brand color names (e.g., overlay_pay_confirm_lightblue.png).

Network (examples to turn into rules)

  • Outbound to newly registered domains with finance-themed paths:
    https://<random>.<tld>/api/v1/task, /cfg, /overlays, /ats
  • User-agents mimicking wallet apps but sent by unknown package.
  • Telegram/Discord webhook patterns from non-Telegram/non-Discord apps.

Detections (ready-to-adapt)

YARA (DEX heuristics—safe, non-malicious)

rule Android_PhantomCard_Heuristics
{
  meta:
    description = "Heuristic: Accessibility+Overlay banker with ATS strings"
    author = "CyberDudeBivash"
  strings:
    $a1 = "TYPE_APPLICATION_OVERLAY" ascii
    $a2 = "BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE" ascii
    $a3 = "NotificationListenerService" ascii
    $a4 = "MediaProjectionManager" ascii
    $c1 = "ats_steps" ascii nocase
    $c2 = "overlay_template_id" ascii nocase
    $c3 = "wallet_target_pkgs" ascii nocase
  condition:
    3 of ($a*) and 2 of ($c*)
}

Suricata (TLS SNI + path heuristic)

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CDB – Possible PhantomCard C2"; http.host; content:".cfg"; http.uri; content:"/api/v1/"; classtype:trojan-activity; sid:420151; rev:1;)

Sigma (Android logcat via EDR)

title: PhantomCard Accessibility Abuse
logsource:
  product: android
  service: accessibility
detection:
  sel:
    EventType|contains:
      - TYPE_WINDOW_STATE_CHANGED
      - TYPE_VIEW_TEXT_CHANGED
    PackageName|endswith:
      - ".bank"
      - ".wallet"
      - ".upi"
  condition: sel
level: high

Mitigation & hardening (enterprise BYOD + consumer)

Device & OS

  • Block sideloading on work profile; enforce Play Integrity API attestation for corporate apps.
  • Restrict Accessibility & overlay permissions with MDM; alert on new Accessibility services.
  • Private DNS (DoH/DoT) to security provider; block newly registered domains <30d.
  • Force biometrics + device PIN and auto-lock <= 30s; disable unknown sources.

App level (banks/fintech/wallets)

  • Rooted/frida/emulator checks + hardware-backed key attestation (StrongBox/TEE).
  • In-app overlay detection (draw a canary view; detect occlusion).
  • Server-side step-up on risky signals (IMEI/Android ID changes, Accessibility enabled, rapid UI automation timing).
  • Bind sessions to device keys using KeyStore AES-GCM with key attestation to prevent token replay.
  • Out-of-band approvals (push within bank app, not SMS) + transaction signing with per-txn nonce.

Network & SOC

  • Egress policy: unknown finance-like domains + Discord/Telegram webhooks from non-approved apps = block & alert.
  • UEBA for abnormal OTP flows, login from device with accessibility on + new wallet overlay.
  • Build JA3/JA4 fingerprints for your fleet; alert on new TLS client fingerprints from finance-targeting packages.

IR playbook (fast lane)

  1. Isolate device from network (MDM quarantine).
  2. Snapshot: collect APK list, permissions, Accessibility services (adb shell settings get secure enabled_accessibility_services).
  3. Hunt for overlay windows and MediaProjection usage in logs.
  4. Revoke tokens: bank/wallet sessions, corporate IdP refresh tokens.
  5. Reset device (factory reset) if persistence components detected; re-enroll via MDM.
  6. User counseling: explain Accessibility abuse and sideload risks; mandate passkeys/biometric.
  7. Campaign intel: submit samples/URLs/IOCs to threat intel; block infra enterprise-wide.

Forensic triage commands (quick reference)

# List packages with overlay or accessibility capability hints
adb shell pm list packages -f | grep -i overlay
adb shell settings get secure enabled_accessibility_services
adb shell dumpsys activity top | grep -i overlay

# Pull app manifest for suspect package
PKG=com.suspicious.app
adb shell pm path $PKG | awk -F: '{print $2}' | xargs -I{} adb pull {} ./suspect.apk
# (Analyze with jadx/apktool offline)

(Run only on devices you own/are authorized to analyze.)

Strategic takeaways

  • Accessibility + overlay remains the #1 banker combo, now fused with wallet/NFC awareness.
  • SMS OTP is obsolete—attackers automate everything; defenders must move to push + transaction signing.
  • BYOD is a gateway: mobile compromises cascade into SaaS and identity fabric. Apply Zero Trust to devices, not just users.

CyberDudeBivash guidance: Hunt for behaviors, not just hashes. Enforce deny-by-default on risky mobile capabilities, and pair in-app defenses with network controls. That’s how you beat PhantomCard and its successors.

#CyberDudeBivash #AndroidMalware #PhantomCard #MobileBankingTrojan #ATS #NFC #ZeroTrust #PolicyAsCode #ThreatIntel #MobileEDR

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