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According to Symantec, 13 apps from three developers—many in the official Android Market—have been carrying malicious chunks of code called Android.Counterclank, and are suspected of running on as many as five million phones, stealing info and running ads against the will of the device’s owner.
ComputerWorld, speaking to Symantec, learned that the apps have been downloadable for over a month, and Symantec calls it the biggest android malware outbreak to date.
Some of the 13 apps that Symantec identified as infected have been on the Android Market for at least a month, according to the revision dates posted on the e-store. Symantec, however, discovered them only yesterday.
Users had noticed something fishy before then.
“The game is decent … but every time you run this game, a ‘search icon gets added randomly to one of your screens,” said one user on Jan. 16 after downloading “Deal & Be Millionaire,” one of the 13. “I keep deleting the icon, but it always reappears. If you tap the icon you get a page that looks suspiciously like the Google search page.”
The apps, distributed by iApps7, Ogre Games and redmicapps, are mostly games with titles such as Counter Strike Hit Force, Wild Man and Stripper Touch girl. Not-so-shockingly Symantec believes these publishers exist solely to distribute malware. Google might want to get rid of those.[Symantec via ComputerWorld]
Thats an unusually quick detection from Symantec, after all it only took them 6 years to figure out they had some code stolen from them. Well done them :p
Since I avoid filling my phone with hundreds and hundreds of apps/games I should be pretty safe from all of this. I’m a bit old fashioned and think my phone should mostly be used as a communication device.
This could only happen on Android! The stuff on apples AppStore has to be up to standard or it’s off, it’snot like android where the stuff is glitchy as hell and sub standard! Doesn’t help when the majority of user can’t upgrade to the latest android either, what a mish mash of crap..
It also only happens to clueless morons that can’t figure out that a clearly obvious fake app is a clearly obvious fake app.
Call it Darwinism in action.
Yea, Android is so terrible that it outsells iOS on phones and last year android tablets ate 20% more of the iPad’s market share than the year before. A large amount of people drop iPhones down toilets, it doesn’t mean the fault is with the toilet manufacturer for not standing over you while you shit ready to catch your phone from between your legs. It’s your fault for being an idiot. The same applies here.
It outsells because it’s cheaper, that doesn’t make it better. The Ford Focus outsells any model of Lamborghini.
A large amount of people drop their phone down the toilet, which may or may not be an iPhone. This makes them clumsy, or drunk, or both. Not necessarily stupid.
Taf’s point about the Android marketplace being un-regulated is a valid one and the fact that providers can’t necessarily push out the latest update due to the interface changes or even complete shell that they’ve slapped over the top of Android’s UI does mean that security issues cannot necessarily be addressed. It’s a fact.
“The Ford Focus outsells any model of Lamborghini.”
In many ways the Ford Focus is ‘better’ than any model of Lamborghini. It very much depends on what your definition of ‘better’ is so your comparison is rather misaligned.
You are right, absolutely, it was an extreme example. My point that Android devices outsell iPhones because of cost is the point I was trying to make.
Doubtless there are those that will buy Android because they prefer the device over iOS and there are those that will buy them because buying anything designed by Apple, made in China, will cause them to spontaneously combust. The fact remains that they sell better because they are at a better price point for the average consumer.
No, they sell better because more people want to buy Android phones. That is the only conclusion you can come to without just making things up. You have no survey to reach the conclusion that people want iPhones but buy Android because they can’t afford them.
Spin it any which way you want, you still sound rather like a fanboy.
@Taf, what exactly does the number of Android operating system versions have to do with this? Nothing, is the answer. Getting a new Android OS won’t save you from installing a dodgy app.
It seems pretty retarded to me that you would prefer an overarching dominating censoring corporation to control everything available on your phone, just so that you aren’t at risk from installing an app with a backdoor.
Anyway Google removes apps it finds out about that break its terms of service, just as Apple does. What’s the difference?
At no point did I say that people would rather have an iPhone but buy an Android device instead.
Android devices are cheaper on and off contract and so they outsell the iPhone. That was and is the only point I was trying to make. There’s no spin or fanboyism going on.
The fact that newer Android versions are more secure (but may introduce other security holes) than previous versions is also true and before you get back on your Google soapbox that is also true of any and all operating systems.
Kauzion “No, they sell better because more people want to buy Android phones. That is the only conclusion you can come to without just making things up. You have no survey to reach the conclusion that people want iPhones but buy Android because they can’t afford them.”
False, I can name 4 people in my office right now that have an android device that would have had an iPhone if they could afford it… You can’t call it either way…
This thread has yet again turned into another Fandroid feeding frenzy ! I’m outhere, I was hoping Giz UK would have this kinda shit but I guess it’s heading that way
Wrong! Shit Apps on a Shit platform which does have some okish devices is to blame! Google need to get a grip, check the apps before they are downloadable by public..
“Shit Apps on a Shit platform which does have some okish devices” that is a bit harsh way to describe iOS.
You poor confused Soul… Android owner you too must be!
You it’s people like my Parents that by Android phones, they just want a cheap phone that make calls, that’s it. Nothing flashy, no need for Apple, or premium Android handsets. It is the cheap and mid range handsets that give Android it sales figures, as in the area of sales that Apple have no interest, as the area that does not generate apple much sales through Apps or Music or for google for that matter.., try comparing the iPhone sales figures against the premium android handset bracket and you will find Android is blown away.. People who have money to spend prefer Apple!
Hey Taf, didn’t pretty much this exact thing happen to Apple in November last year?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15635408
Indeed it did. This highlights the point that new revisions of software often introduce new security holes. The two comments below from the last part of the article sum it up nicely:
“Apple has been widely criticised for the way in which it limits what code developers can use but this suggests that it was probably right to do that,” he added.
“The Android marketplace has a supply chain that is rather less controlled and therefore offers more potential to malware writers,” said Graham Titterington, an analyst with research firm Ovum.
@Kauzion; Before you have another go at me about being a suspected Apple fanboy, this is just to highlight my earlier point about the slightly higher security risk that the Android Marketplace presents compared to the App Store, nothing more.
Yes well if it happens to Apple it’s simple to fix for everyone, all at once. Simple, just as it should be!
Hate to feed the troll, but if you want everything simple I suggest going back to reading children’s books and using crayons. The future is for the rest of us, those unafraid to choose what we want, not what someone tells us we can have.
Choose wisely, don’t be shy! Just say it, I WANT APPLE!
You know what you really do talk allot of sense Taf. Android really is not all that, it’s not even like the manufacturers think much of it, thats why they cover it up. Take HTC for example, they used touch flo on the hd2 windows mobile 6.5 handset, no real difference to the user experience on an Android HTC handset then, still same ol interface, in a month or two it could be Web OS under the bonnet, when will people realise, when…
Lol, did you just reply a comment agreeing with yourself? I’m impressed.
Why does this trolling idiot have a star?
The trolling idiot who keeps making stupid statements without giving any basis for them.
Get out of 2007 – Apple doesn’t dominate high-end smartphone sales anymore. Those days are gone.
@Grenadey, ok may’be you’re not completely biased, but you still can’t say definitively that price is the only reason they outsell the iPhone. There’s no evidence for that – other than coastercub saying “I have some friends wanted iPhones”, which doesn’t say anything about general trends at all.
Let me guess, you own a budget Android phone, you have never owned an iPhone or an iPad? Well that explains allot (biased)…. My opinions are not biased, I have bought Android, the wife own a Motorola Defy, played with every Android phone going, as well as most windows mobiles, and choose to buy Apple as for me it the best, in my Professional opinion (qualified software tester here) the Android applications are often flawed and of low quality! It’s no surprise android apps are full of Malware!
No I can’t, it’s an opinion based on experience only, but everyone is allowed an opinion and entitled to believe what they want right?
The only real way to settle this is to put 100 people in a room with a selection of Android handsets and an iPhone and tell them they have can have whatever they want and they all cost £100.
At the end of the day this article to me is a security issue, not an Apple/Android fanboy fight which is what some people have turned it into.
My last comments about the App store and Android marketplace and which one works best still stand. As to which is the better phone? I’ll come back to that in 10-15 years when the dust has settled…
What if… What if some managed to port iOS over to an android phone, or find away of making iOS apps work on Android say through emulation, unlikely and every Android user dream I know, but if it happened which market place or OS would most choose, Apple obviously! A decent powerful Android handset on its own does not cut it for me..
“every Android user dream I know”, then obviously you don’t know squat and we can dismiss your other ravings out of hand. If you offered me Android on the iPhone, then you might have a taker, assuming a fully working implementation, but what does iOS offer that Android doesn’t have?