August 12, 2010 by Alexei M
An application which has the ability to steal funds from smartphones running the Google Android operating system has been discovered in operation. The malicious code, which is passed around as a media player, begins sending off text messages at premium rates once it has been installed on phones.
The creator of the malicious application is taking the fees from the text messages and profiting from them. Kaspersky Labs, who discovered the application, are of the opinion that it is the first ever malicious application developed specifically to target Android phones.
It is believed to be the first booby-trapped application for Android. The report by Kaspersky stated: “The virus – Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a – is being spread by text message. The message prompts users to install an application, 13KB in size, which purports to be a media player. The huge growth in the number of Android applications is likely to make the phones tempting targets for criminals. We can expect to see a corresponding rise in the amount of malware targeting that platform.”
Russian users of the Android system are being targeted primarily, and it is thought that other users are not at high risk.
Google has precautions in place to prevent malicious software from being run on handsets. A spokesperson for the search engine giants commented:
“There are a significant number of Java based mobile viruses that do exactly the same malicious activity of sending out premium rate (i.e. reverse charge) SMS. Our application permissions model protects against this type of threat. When installing an application, users see a screen that explains clearly what information and system resources the application has permission to access, such as a user’s phone number or sending an SMS. Users must explicitly approve this access in order to continue with the installation, and they may uninstall applications at any time.”
“Users should only install apps they trust. In particular, users should exercise caution when installing applications outside of Android Market.”
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