After a researcher was able to discover spyware penetrating the Android Market, some Android applications were eventually suspended by Google.
Xuxian Jiang, a computer science professor from NC State University was able to discover a malicious code in the name of Plankton contained in a number of applications and these apps have already been made available in the Android Market.
According to Professor Jiang, this malicious code known as Plankton has been found hidden in some apps associated with the ever popular Android game, Angry Birds. It can hardly be discovered because it is run as a background service. What’s dangerous about this code is that once it gets into your Android device, some unidentified user may access your device remotely.
Plankton was said to be different from the other codes because it did not utilize exploits on the device in order to gain root access to the OS. Webroot researcher Android Brandt, in his blog post, mentioned: “The malicious apps install additional code into the Android device into which they’re installed.” He further stated: “These additional functions provide remote access and control of the Android device to, presumably, the distributor of the malicious apps, whose identity remains unknown at this time.”
As Brandt further explained: “Instead, the remote commands simply give an unknown criminal access to what some may consider sensitive data on the phone, including the browser history, bookmarks, and homepage settings in the built-in Android browser.”
To address this alarming situation, Google immediately made a move by containing and suspending certain applications which were found to be infected with this malicious code. At present, there are about ten (10) apps which were identified as among those infected.
Source: ITPro
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I wonder if it happens in iOS too.