How to avoid the nightmare Android malware that can hold your device for ransom or erase it

Android malware on phone.

Newly discovered malware DroidLock can wreak havoc on your Android phone, taking over your lock screen — even changing your login info — to prevent victims from being able to get into their devices.

According to researchers at Zimperium, the malware can lock victims' screens in order to demand a ransom, change the PIN, password or biometric data to prevent the user from accessing their own device, access complete control over the device including text messages, call logs, contacts and audio recordings. The ransomware overlay will instruct the victim to contact the attacker at a Proton email address within 24 hours, otherwise it will permanently destroy the files on the device.