How to Detect Banking Trojan Apps Using Appdome

Last updated February 5, 2025 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Detect Bank Trojan Apps in Android apps.

What are Bank Trojan Apps?

Bank trojan apps are malicious software applications designed to target mobile and online banking users to steal sensitive financial information such as account numbers, passwords, and transaction authentication codes. These apps often disguise themselves as legitimate banking applications or other trustworthy apps to trick users into downloading and installing them.

Once installed, bank trojans can perform various malicious activities, including:

  • Keylogging: Recording every keystroke entered by the user to capture login credentials and other sensitive data.
  • Overlay Attacks: Displaying a fake interface that looks like a legitimate banking app over the real app. When users input their credentials, the trojan captures this data.
  • SMS Interception: Capturing incoming SMS messages, which can include two-factor authentication codes sent by banks.
  • Remote Access: Some trojans can allow attackers remote access to the device, giving them full control to perform transactions.

The primary goal of bank trojans is financial gain through unauthorized access to victims’ banking accounts. They are part of a broader category of malware known as financial malware.

How Does Appdome Detect Trojan Attacks in Mobile Apps?

Detect Bank Trojan Apps is an advanced security feature on Appdome that detects a wide range of Trojan threats. It is designed to safeguard mobile apps by identifying and responding to threats without requiring manual toggling for individual Trojans. Once enabled, this feature continuously monitors the app for signs of Trojan activity across a variety of known Trojan families, providing a robust defense mechanism that operates seamlessly in the background.

Features and Functionality

Detect Accessibility Service Malware: Appdome scans the device to identify any misuse of Accessibility Services by malware, which is a common vector for Trojan attacks.

Targeted Trojan Defense:

Appdome detects and blocks several specific Trojans, including, but not limited to:
BrasDex Trojan – Learn more
Xenomorph Trojan – Learn more
PixBankBot Trojan – Learn more
PixPirate Trojan – Learn more
SpyNote Trojan – Learn more
Joker Trojan – Learn more
Octo Trojan – Learn more
Blank Bot – Learn more
Godfather – Learn more
Toxic Panda – Learn more

 

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Detect Bank Trojan Apps Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect Bank Trojan Apps , you’ll need:

How to Implement Detect Bank Trojan Apps in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Detect Bank Trojan Apps without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
    3. Detect Bank Trojan Apps is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Detect Bank Trojan Apps.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Detect Bank Trojan Apps feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Detect Bank Trojan Apps

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Detect Bank Trojan Apps feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Detect Bank Trojan Apps feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Detect Bank Trojan Apps you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Detect Bank Trojan Apps.

        Fusion Set applied Detect Bank Trojan Apps

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect Bank Trojan Apps protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Detect Bank Trojan Apps feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Anti ATO tab > Android Trojans section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Detect Bank Trojan Apps.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Detect Bank Trojan Apps as shown below.

        (b) To receive mobile Threat Monitoring, check the ThreatScope™ box as shown below. For more details, see our knowledge base article on ThreatScope™ Mobile XDR.
        Detect Bank Trojan Apps option

        Figure 4: Selecting Detect Bank Trojan Apps

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Detect Bank Trojan Apps:
        1. Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense

          If the Threat-Events™ setting is not selected. Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing Bank Trojan Apps.

        2. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects malicious trojans and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ to Detect Bank Trojan AppsDetect Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

        3. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Bank Trojan Apps (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Detect Bank Trojan AppsDetect Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Detect Bank Trojan Apps:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s Bank Trojan Apps

        4. Detect Bank Trojan Apps Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Detect Bank Trojan Apps is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Detect Bank Trojan Apps protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Detect Bank Trojan Apps feature in Android Apps

    After building Detect Bank Trojan Apps, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Detect Bank Trojan Apps protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Detect Bank Trojan Apps protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Detect Bank Trojan Apps shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Detect Bank Trojan Apps has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect Bank Trojan Apps and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Bank Trojan Apps Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Bank Trojan Apps is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Bank Trojan Apps in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Bank Trojan Apps shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Bank Trojan Apps are:

 

 

 

 

Threat-Event™ Elements Detect Bank Trojan Apps Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Detect Bank Trojan Apps
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Detecting Bank Trojan Apps Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME BlockedATSModification
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF 6801
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforce Timed enforcement against the identified threat
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device. Only available for Android.
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Bank Trojan Apps is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Detect Bank Trojan Apps:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Apps by using Detect Bank Trojan Apps. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Detect Bank Trojan Apps

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

Prevent Accessibility Service Malware on Android Apps

Prevent ATS Malware in Android Apps

How to Protect Android Apps Against BrasDex Malware

 

 

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

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