Hackers Clone Jay-Z’s Samsung App With Anti-NSA Message

The BBC is reporting that the highly publicized Jay-Z “Magna Carta” app for Samsung Galaxy Android phones was cloned by computer hackers. The real app allowed Galaxy owners to download a free version of Jay’s new album Magna Carta Holy Grail as well as other exclusive content.

Hackers cloned the app and made it available on unofficial sites. Apparently, the cloned app worked just as the original until July 4th when a timer in the code changed the image of album artwork to a picture of President Barack Obama wearing headphones with the words “yes we scan” above it.

Obama and the US government has been heavily criticized for a recently revealed NSA surveillance program that allegedly has wide scale ability to collect communication information on Americans. One privacy rights group is suing the Obama Administration over the program.

Jay-Z has had a very public connection with President Obama. The legendary Brooklyn rapper campaigned for Obama in 2008 and 2012, and he has mentioned the President in several songs including the track “Open Letter.”
The relationship between Obama and Jay-Z may be one of the reasons the hackers targeted fans of the rapper for their cyber attack.

Software security company McAfee discovered the cloned “Magna Carta” app. At the moment McAfee is uncertain whether the Trojan attack also collected other personal data from its users.

“The image and the service name NSAListener suggest a hacktivist agenda, but we haven’t ruled out the possibility that additional malware may target financial transactions or other data,” wrote McAfee researcher Irfan Asrar in a blogpost.