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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Malware threatens Android phones - Part |

Crooks' arsenal ranges from mobile games to a simple map

Smartphone security firms have reason to worry. Malware threats to Android phones, which have positioned themselves in the smartphone category, are growing. This time, mobile crooks are targeting certain features that are popular on PC's but are found to be vulnerable on Android phones. For eg: unlike other smart phones with proprietary app store, Android phones keep their app stores 'open', exposing themselves to attacks by malware writers.
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The Android phones offer a variety of applications that allow users to operate the  phone for requirements that are beyond voice. Typically, smartphone makers offer applications through their app stores. Wresting control of the app stores, however can allow malware writers to pick vulnerabilities in Android phones.

Following are some of the Android specific mobile threats:
AndroidOS.Tapsnake
A user who downloads this application assumes that it is the Android version of the popular "Snake" game.
However what happens is that the threat switches on the phone's GPS and relays information about the user's coordinates to the cyber criminal.

Andorid.Pjapps
Android.Pjapps is an example of a Trojan with backdoor capabilities that targets Android devices. As seen with previous Android threats, it spreads through compromised versions o legitimate applications. One of the applications carrying Android.Pjapps code is Steamy Window similar to other  compromised Android applications, it is difficult to differentiate the legitimate version form the malicious one once it is installed. During installation, however it is possible to identify the malicious version by the excessive permissions it requests.When run, both the legitimate and malicious versions of the application mimics  a steam effect on your Android devices screen. It even lets you wipe it off with your finger. The  aim of Android.Pjapps is to build a botnet controlled by a number of different Command and Control(C&C) servers.

Android.Rootcager
Android Packages(.apk) include the file "rageagainstthecage", which is a tool commonly used to root the phone. In legitimate circumstances, this file can be used by the owner of the phone to acquire administrative rights on his or her phone this case, rooting the pone can allow malware we call Android.Rootcager to form more than the usual activities not commonly allowed on droid phones. Android.Rootcager roots phone without user consent by performing activities such as taking screen shots, monitoring installed applications and downloading additional packages of code.


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