Kaspersky has announced in this article the first trojan specific for Android. "The new malicious program penetrates smartphones running Android in the guise of a harmless media player application. Users are prompted to install a file of just over 13 KB with the standard Android extension .APK. Once installed on the phone, the Trojan uses the system to begin sending SMSs to premium rate numbers without the owner’s knowledge or consent, resulting in money passing from a user’s account to that of the cybercriminals."
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Member since:2010-05-21
I never said it originated from a Blog, I said blogs are merely regurgitating the same story without fact checking. Kaspersky's shit stinks too .. so don't go thinking for one minute they can't make a mistake.
The big mistake here is that .. this trojan is just the same old trojan re-wrapped 561 times with 561 different names. Each of these does the exact same thing ... sends premium SMS texts primarily using Russian SMS short codes. So if you are not on a Russian network there is little chance you will get charged the toll charges.
See a detailed and accurate analysis of this old trojan with a new name: http://jon.oberheide.org/blog/2010/08/10/dexcode-teardown-of-the-an...
Member since:2009-07-01
Anyone may make mistakes. But this news is about the first virus found specifically for Android, no one is saying it is unique - as it was not mentioned also that it is or not a new fashion of an old virus.
I saw the link you posted. The description gave me the impression that the virus itself may be a proof of concept or an app made only for fun. That part of "Hello Android from Netbeans" looks like the author of this virus is learning how to program. So, it may be written by anyone.
Anyway, what we have here is an example of a malicious software working on the most uncontrolled part of system - the user. Imagine a program of "phone admin" wich message is "May I take care of your phone ?" meaning having controll of whole device. I know a lot of people that will give it the rights.
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Member since:
2009-07-01
As you said, the trojan itself may be old, but being now targetting Android, it IS an Android issue.
There are a lot of "new" viruses around that are variations of old ones. Seeing they moving from one platform to another is bad too.
And it was not from a blog, original story is from Kaspersky, an anti-virus maker.