Malware Authors Target Android Phones

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Oh come on, they act like a 388% increase is a lot. :D

According to security firm RiskIQ's recent study, the number of malicious apps on the Google Play store increased by 388 percent from 2011 to 2013. Meanwhile the percentage of malware apps removed by Google each year went from 60 percent in 2011, to just 23 percent in 2013. The percentage of malware apps on the Google Play store jumped from 3 percent in 2011 to 9 percent in 2012, and to almost 13 percent in 2013, according to RiskIQ's research.
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What percent of those malware infested apps are porn-based? Majority I bet.
 
Android is the Windows 98 of this generation. Buggy, bad dev tools, and a perpetual target for hackers. Oh and the company that owns it is evil.

:cool::D
 
I don't know about you guys, but I treat my phone like it is a public use device. I don't put jack shit on there that I am not good with the outside world seeing.
 
Why can't we send armed drones after the people who post these apps?
I'm sure after a few "hits" the number of malware infected apps would plunge.
 
So at what point was an Android phone not a trojan horse for Google's gigantical data collection engine? It would seem silly to infect something that's basically already an infection right out of the box.
 
NeghVar said:
What percent of those malware infested apps are porn-based? Majority I bet.
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I never understood why people look at porn on their phone anyways. Sexting is an entirely different matter though.
 
i think the people that install every dumb wallpaper, ring-tone app, etc... are all the same people that install similar dumb apps on their PCs and get infected and/or pwned.

on the flip side, a lot of people grant a lot of trust to the app stores of the various mobile eco systems. i think they all need to double or triple their efforts to keep the mobile app stores clean. if it takes 4 or 5 times as long to get new apps published than so be it.
 
Terminus said:
Android is the Windows 98 of this generation. Buggy, bad dev tools, and a perpetual target for hackers. Oh and the company that owns it is evil.

:cool::D
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You and I have very different views of Windows 98. Now if you called it Windows ME, that I would agree with.
 
NeghVar said:
What percent of those malware infested apps are porn-based? Majority I bet.
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And I would bet that a majority of infections happen from non-porn sites/apps.

Most viruses I see are acquired in the following ways:
  1. Downloading fake apps that masquerade as other popular apps.
  2. Downloading "free" apps, music or movies that are really just viruses
  3. Going to common websites that have been hijacked to serve malware (happened to the ad servers on MSN.com)

Yes there are a crap ton of porn sites and apps out there, and there are a certain percentage that are infected, but the vast majority of them see very little traffic. If you want to spread malware, you are likely to get far more targets if you put up a fake Facebook app that is a virus then by putting another porn app out that will be lost in the sea of porn apps.
 
darkpark said:
i think they all need to double or triple their efforts to keep the mobile app stores clean. if it takes 4 or 5 times as long to get new apps published than so be it.
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I think Apple is doing a pretty good job of keeping their app store clean. I moved from an Android to an iPhone because of this, and the fact that Apple continues to update the OS on devices that are over a year old.
 
Draktharbar said:
I think Apple is doing a pretty good job of keeping their app store clean. I moved from an Android to an iPhone because of this, and the fact that Apple continues to update the OS on devices that are over a year old.
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I chose the android device with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AC chipset, Quad core 2.5 GHz Krait 400 processor, Adreno 330 graphics processor, 5.1" super AMOLED screen. It's IP 67 Spec'd but I added an Otterbox Defender case to keep things intact. Tossed in a 64 Gig memory module for the shyt of it. Takes great pictures with its 16 megapixel camera, too. I liked typing. :cool:
 
Terminus said:
Android is the Windows 98 of this generation. Buggy, bad dev tools, and a perpetual target for hackers. Oh and the company that owns it is evil.

:cool::D
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Yeah. Laggy, inefficient, runs on lots of bad hardware, second rate app selection. I don't get why some people are so passionate about denying its issues. At least Google knows its problems and are still trying to bring it up to speed with iOS and WP.

darkpark said:
on the flip side, a lot of people grant a lot of trust to the app stores of the various mobile eco systems. i think they all need to double or triple their efforts to keep the mobile app stores clean. if it takes 4 or 5 times as long to get new apps published than so be it.
Click to expand...

A surprising amount gets through Google Play. That said, it isn't very much at all in the big picture, most malware comes from more "unofficial" sources. Being able to install anything means that you have the opportunity to install anything that may be malicious. Tight reins on verification and distribution is why Apple and Microsoft's mobile ecosystems are so clean and why Google's isn't.
 
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