Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water...
March 4th 2011 08:50
Google has reported that around 50 android apps turn out to have been infected with rootkit malware.
The malware is called DroidDream and can compromise personal data by taking over the user's device.
Google has been prompt in removing the apps from the market, but whether they have yet been able to remove the malware from users' devices is another question, and is the more worrying.
Android Police, a news site on Google's operating system, calls DreamDroid "the mother of all Android malware", and notes that it "steals nearly everything it can: product ID, model, partner (provider?), language, country, and userID. But that's all child's play; the true pièce de résistance is that it has the ability to download more code. In other words, there's no way to know what the app does after it's installed, and the possibilities are nearly endless."
Scary, but definitely a place we've been before - just not with apps, perhaps.
The Guardian, which reported on this malware, has also listed the apps that you should avoid. It's perhaps ironic that a number of them have the word 'sexy' in the title.
The malware is called DroidDream and can compromise personal data by taking over the user's device.
Google has been prompt in removing the apps from the market, but whether they have yet been able to remove the malware from users' devices is another question, and is the more worrying.
Android Police, a news site on Google's operating system, calls DreamDroid "the mother of all Android malware", and notes that it "steals nearly everything it can: product ID, model, partner (provider?), language, country, and userID. But that's all child's play; the true pièce de résistance is that it has the ability to download more code. In other words, there's no way to know what the app does after it's installed, and the possibilities are nearly endless."
Scary, but definitely a place we've been before - just not with apps, perhaps.
The Guardian, which reported on this malware, has also listed the apps that you should avoid. It's perhaps ironic that a number of them have the word 'sexy' in the title.
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