How to Detect ToxicPanda Trojan in Android Apps

Last updated January 30, 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 ToxicPanda Trojan in Android apps.

What is ToxicPanda Trojan?

ToxicPanda is an Android banking trojan identified in late 2024, primarily targeting users in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Disguised as legitimate applications such as Google Chrome and popular banking apps, it spreads through malicious APK files, often distributed via counterfeit app store pages. Once installed, ToxicPanda exploits Android’s accessibility services to gain elevated permissions, enabling it to perform On-Device Fraud (ODF) by remotely controlling the infected device. This method allows attackers to bypass traditional security measures, such as behavioral detection systems and multi-factor authentication (MFA), without using techniques like Automatic Transfer Systems (ATS) or overlay attacks. ToxicPanda intercepts one-time passwords (OTPs) sent via SMS or authenticator apps and records user inputs to harvest sensitive information, such as banking credentials and personal data. Believed to be developed by a Chinese-speaking threat actor, it shares similarities with the TgToxic malware family, which is known for targeting crypto wallets. As of November 2024, over 1,500 devices have been compromised, with significant infection rates reported in Italy (56.8%), Portugal (18.7%), Hong Kong (4.6%), Spain (3.9%), and Peru (3.4%).

How Does Appdome Detect ToxicPanda Trojan in Android Apps?

Taking all the above into consideration, you can use Appdome Detect Bank Trojan Apps feature to protect against ToxicPanda as well as as use a combination of the following Appdome detection and protection methods:

  • Prevent Accessibility Services Malware – Prevents malicious actions taken by malware that exploit Android’s AccessibilityService, which when abused can be used to intercept sensitive inputs like passwords and 2FA codes, take screenshots, and simulate user actions such as taps and swipes.
  • Prevent Remote Desktop Exploits – Detects 3rd party apps that attempt to remotely control the protected app, typically via social engineering or tricking the user.
  • Google Play Store Signature Validation – Protects against fake apps, clones, masquerading, which malware often do to trick users into performing harmful actions.
  • RASP & App Shielding – Prevents ToxicPanda from injecting itself into installed apps and repackaging them. Also includes anti-tampering, anti-debugging, anti-emulator, and other protections against dynamic attacks at runtime.
  • Code Obfuscation – Protects against decompiling and malicious reverse engineering which hackers use to read and understand source code.
  • Root Detection – Protects mobile apps from running on rooted devices, which exposes apps to tampering, data theft, and malware by giving attackers elevated access to system files and app data.
  • MitM Attack Prevention – Prevents ToxicPanda from intercepting or hijacking sessions to harvest or steal data.
  • Keylogging Prevention – Prevents the use of malicious keyloggers which may be used to intercept two-factor authentication codes or harvest sensitive information.

Each of the protections above is linked to the relevant knowledge base article for that feature, which provides detailed information about each feature and explains how to implement the protection in your Android app.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Detect ToxicPanda Plugins:

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

How to Implement Detect ToxicPanda Trojan in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Detect ToxicPanda Trojan 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 ToxicPanda is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Detect ToxicPanda.

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

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Detect ToxicPanda feature

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

      3. When you enable 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 ToxicPanda.

        Fusion Set applied Detect ToxicPanda

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect ToxicPanda 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 ToxicPanda 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 > Detect ToxicPanda.
        Note: The checkmark feature Detect ToxicPanda is enabled by default, as shown below. Detect ToxicPanda option

        Figure 4: Selecting Detect ToxicPanda Trojan

        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. Configure the User Experience Options for Detect ToxicPanda:
        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 ToxicPanda Trojan

        4. Detect ToxicPanda Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Detect ToxicPanda 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 ToxicPanda protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Detect ToxicPanda feature in Android Apps

    After building Detect ToxicPanda, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Detect ToxicPanda protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Detect ToxicPanda protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Detect ToxicPanda 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 ToxicPanda has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect ToxicPanda and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

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

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

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

Threat-Event™ Elements Detect ToxicPanda Trojan Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Detect ToxicPanda
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 x
Visible in ThreatScope™ x
Developer Parameters for Detecting ToxicPanda Trojan Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF
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 ToxicPanda Trojan is detected.


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


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 ToxicPanda. 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 ToxicPanda

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:

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!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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