Google Flipped the Remote Kill Switch on Malicious Android Apps
by Antonio Wells
Mar 7, 2011 7:30 AM –
We received word from LookOut, mobile security firm, about the nasty deeds the Trojan DroidDream was doing when recently placed and yanked from the official Android Market. They considered it to be a powerful zombie agent that can install any applications silently and execute code with root privileges at will. “Additionally, the malware is very aptly named – it was configured to only run in the evening (from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.) — a time when the owner of an infected device would most likely be sleeping and not notice any strange behaviors on the phone.”
Google recently took action against the malware ridding it from the Market, banished the developers accounts, alerted authorities and best of all used their remote kill switch to zap the apps from affected phones. Some may not like that fact due to privacy concerns, however, it does come effective in an attack like this. The applications took advantage of known vulnerabilities which doesn’t affect Android versions 2.2.2 or higher.
Share your thoughts in the comments, were you affected by DroidDream? Hopefully you were not, but if you were infected, do you feel Google violates your privacy by automatically removing it from your phone? Or do you think that was a responsible remedy to their security flaw? Do you use antivirus apps like LookOut to protect your device?
Tags:
Android Apps,
Android Apps Security Alert,
Android Market,
Android Security,
Android Trojans,
Android Viruses,
DroidDream,
Lookout Mobile Security,
rageagainstthecage
Categorised in: Apps Blog, Featured, News
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