Android.Troj.mdk, the Trojan botnet that last week was reported to have infected one million devices, mainly Chinese Android phones, is a new variant of a separate strain of malware, Backscript, researchers say.
The website of a popular watch retailer is reportedly redirecting users that visit the site on Android-based devices to a number of malicious domains serving up premium rate SMS malware.
Users looking for “cracked” Android files are in danger of running into a site that is peddling apps that are more or less a ploy to garner advertising clicks from unsuspecting users. The site, getwapi.com, boasts a collection of free, yet crooked looking downloads for Android phones including audio apps, Java apps, wallpapers, games and more.
Early research from Symantec estimates that spammers behind a new type of Android malware may have already stolen “between 75,000 and 450,000 pieces of personal information” from Japanese users. While these numbers may be disparate it does suggest the malware, , has been successful since popping up a few weeks ago.
UPDATE Up to a million Android users in China could be part of a large mobile botnet according to research unveiled by Kingsoft Security, a Hong Kong-based security company, this week.
UPDATE – In an attempt to reign in the tendency of indifference toward consumer privacy among mobile application developers, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today made public a list of guidelines regulating the ways in which mobile application developers and technology companies handle user data and educate users about what they intend on doing with that data.
Nokia mobile devices redirect Web requests to Nokia-owned proxy servers where header information including credentials are stored in clear text, putting anything from banking sessions to social media accounts at risk, a researcher claims.
Phony, potentially malicious apps are continuing to make their way into Google’s Play marketplace, triggering debate over whether applications are being properly vetted for adhering to the company’s marketplace policies.Developers at the Root Uninstaller Team have called out another app publisher, Team DROID, for copying their work after duplicate, “hacked” versions of Root Uninstaller’s apps have popped up in Google’s Play market over the past few weeks.
Samsung has started to push software updates to some users of its Galaxy branded phones this week, fixing a flaw that was found affecting devices containing Exynos processors shortly before Christmas.
Samsung downplayed a root exploit vulnerability in some of its Exynos processors, and promised a patch for the flaw, according to a company statement acquired by AndroidCentral.
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