Android Phone Tips
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| Android Phone Tips |
Google has been forced to withdraw more than 50 virus-infected apps from the official Android Market. Google Android is an open-source software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications.
DroidDream fires sensitive data, such as a phone's unique ID number, to a remote server. If it hasn't the program bypasses security controls and hands its creator access to the handset. Lompolo discovered that the application was a carbon-copy of the original, however it had a name change and virus code added to is. more than 50 applications available via the official Android Marketplace have been found to contain a virus.
The apps, according to analysts, may have been downloaded up to 200,000 times before they were found.
The apps were not newly developed ones. The malicious apps were just a bunch of existing applications that had been repackaged to include the virus code. Google has reportedly removed the apps from the Android Marketplace.
The virus in the apps, known as DroidDream, would send sensitive data such as a phone’s unique ID number, to a remote server once it had been installed. Before installing itself, it first checks to see if a phone has already been infected or not. If not, it will then install itself and use known exploits to bypass security controls and give the virus creator access to the handset.
The latest version of the Android operating system, Gingerbread, is not vulnerable to the exploits DroidDream uses. Anyone who believed that their phone had been infected should get a new handset or re-install its operating system.
The attack was discovered when Reddit user Lompolo discovered that 21 legitimate apps had been download, infected and uploaded under another name. "Super Guitar Solo for example is originally Guitar Solo Lite. It was discovered after this that the rogue apps contained the DroidDream virus. With a suspected 200,000 downloads of the rogue apps downloaded, that's a lot of insecure handsets out there.
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) users are immune to the DroidDream virus, but as that's a minority of handsets, the majority of Android users are at risk. If you think that your handset could have been infected Android Police has a full list of infected apps. There's also no easy method to report suspect apps.
By. Android Phone Tips
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