android viruses | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:54:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png android viruses | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Android market dealing with more rogue ‘DreamDroid’ applications https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/android/slyvia/android-market-dealing-with-more-rogue-dreamdroid-applications/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/android/slyvia/android-market-dealing-with-more-rogue-dreamdroid-applications/#comments Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:54:28 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=36004 KitGuru reported yesterday that Google had to kill 21 applications from their online market due to malware infections. Unfortunately the situation appears to be worse than first expected with a total of 50 applications now being highlighted as infected. Google have also yet to trigger an automatic deinstall of the programs from user phones, security …

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KitGuru reported yesterday that Google had to kill 21 applications from their online market due to malware infections. Unfortunately the situation appears to be worse than first expected with a total of 50 applications now being highlighted as infected.

Google have also yet to trigger an automatic deinstall of the programs from user phones, security experts said. Tom Parson's a senior manager with Symantec' security response team said “The apps were ‘Trojanized, With the phones being ‘rooted,' the attacks can do almost anything, including pulling data off the phone.” Indicating that the malware can gain root access to the devices.

These troublesome applications were made available for four days on the Android market. Lookout, a San Francisco based smartphone security firm have said that between 50,000 and 100,000 copies of the applications have been downloaded by end users meaning that this is a serious security risk for a lot of Android users.

All of the programs were infected with the same rogue coder which is dubbed as ‘DreamDroid'. It allows attackers to compromise Android phones and connect them to a command and control server which can then issue orders directly to the phones. This is made even more complex by the fact that many of the applications were initially legit, and have been pirated and modified with the DreamDroid code.

While malware has been circulated before on the Android platform, this is the first time that they have been available on Google's own market. Google do have the option to flip a switch in their base to remotely remove all malicious applications from Android smartphones, but so far it seems they have yet to do so.

Kevin Mahaffey, CTO of Lookout said “Google's very responsible with that power, they want to make sure that it's used only in cases when they're sure they're removing only malware.”

As Google Android gets more popular, they are facing a tougher task vetting the thousands of applications created every single day.

KitGuru says: With Google yet to make an official comment about the malware infected programs, we can only hope they do it sooner rather than later.

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Google kill 21 dangerous Android applications https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/android/slyvia/google-have-to-kill-21-dangerous-android-applications/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/android/slyvia/google-have-to-kill-21-dangerous-android-applications/#comments Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:28:33 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=35872 Google's Android operating system has risen in popularity in the last year and unfortunately with this growth comes a risk of malicious code. Today the search engine giant have had to remove 21 applications from the Android market that contained dodgy code designed to pass over personal information. These applications, once installed, could root the …

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Google's Android operating system has risen in popularity in the last year and unfortunately with this growth comes a risk of malicious code. Today the search engine giant have had to remove 21 applications from the Android market that contained dodgy code designed to pass over personal information.

These applications, once installed, could root the phone and gather sensitive data to pass over to the creators. Some of the code could even leave back door code installed for further access at a later date. The applications thankfully were discovered by a Reddit user who brought it to Google's attention via the Android Police (cool name eh?).

Sadly, the open source nature of the platform means that dubious coders will always have more room to get their warez into the marketplace. All these maliciously coded applications were pirated versions of existing software which had been altered to include the dangerous code. While Apple get a lot of flak in the press for being very restrictive, this is not something you would expect to see on the Apple app store.

Questions are being raised as to why one Reddit user found the dodgy programs, and not the Google security team who are meant to peruse the applications and identify possible rogue software.

The applications which have been removed from the Android market are:

  • Falling Down
  • Super Guitar Solo
  • Super History Eraser
  • Photo Editor
  • Super Ringtone Maker
  • Super Sex Positions
  • Hot Sexy Videos
  • Chess
  • 下坠滚球_Falldown
  • Hilton Sex Sound
  • Screaming Sexy Japanese Girls
  • Falling Ball Dodge
  • Scientific Calculator
  • Dice Roller
  • 躲避弹球
  • Advanced Currency Converter
  • APP Uninstaller
  • 几何战机_PewPew
  • Funny Paint
  • Spider Man
  • 蜘蛛侠

KitGuru says: We would love to say that if you downloaded an application called ‘Hilton Sex Sound' then you really do deserve punishment on some level.

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