Tag Archives: malware
Guest Post: A look at anti-virus apps on smartphones
by Kaito Mori a blogger who works with Trend Micro
Computer viruses are, unfortunately, a typical problem that people deal with regularly. But you use your smartphone for everything so you don’t have to worry, right? Wrong. With so many people using their smartphones as their primary internet browsing device, malicious software (malware) has been transformed to infiltrate and retrieve sensitive information stored on mobile devices. Before I discuss how to protect your phone, let’s take a look back at the evolution of mobile malware. Continue reading
Posted in android, iOS, mobile security
Tagged Cabir, Find and Call, Kaito Mori, malware, Trend Micro, Trojans, worms
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US professor slams ‘dangerous’ failures in Android malware vetting
Research by a US professor has revealed that an astonishing 85 per cent of malware fails to be discovered by Google’s new app verification service.
Though Google’s Bouncer service scans for viruses and malevolent programs in featured Play Store apps, users often opt to “sideload” applications so bypassing any protection. To overcome this Google recently introduced its application verification service in Android 4.2, letting users send information about any app back to the search giant to check if it is safe. Continue reading
Posted in Samsung, android, google, mobile news, mobile security, nokia, qualcomm
Tagged android, google, malware, North Carolina State University, Professor Xuxian Jiang, Security
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Guest Blog: Bring Your Own Device and the Mobile Perimeter
by David Harley CITP FBCS CISSP, ESET Senior Research Fellow
I crept into the IT industry (and thence into security and eventually the anti-malware industry later than you might think, but still early enough to find myself using and supporting dumb terminals, dedicated word processors, and some pretty primitive PC and Apple desktops – often using terminal emulation software so as to access ‘real’ computing power: Unix or VMS, mostly). Kermit may be a frog to you, but it’s still a communications protocol to me! [Oops, I remember Kermit too. Ed] Continue reading
Posted in mobile security
Tagged android, botnet, BYOD, David Harley, ESET, malware, phishing, SMS fraud, targeted social engineering, Terry Zink
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Spanish speakers hit by fake Android banking apps
Rating: Just exactly is this malware escaping into the wild?
It seems a number of players in the mobile security sector are getting hot under the collar thanks to the discovery of ‘fake’ mobile banking Android apps. At present, it seems to GoMobile News that these attacks are targeting Spanish speakers – particularly as the banks in question are Banesto, BBVA and Santander. What’s really worrying the security experts is that they are not quite sure how these Android malware apps are escaping into the wild. However, at least one security software provider, ESET, is confident that its Android security app will pick up these nasty example of malware ‘heuristically’ as a variant of the Android Trojan – SMS Stealer C. The issue has been highlighted by The Hacker News here which in turn spotted mention of the outbreak on McAfee blog post here. Continue reading
Posted in App stores, Facebook, Featured, Social Networking, android, bebo, google, mobile money, mobile security
Tagged apps, Banesto, banking, BBVA, David Harley, ESET, Google Play, malware, McAfee, Santander, The Hacker News
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Lookout launches app for tracking security threats
Rating: See global security threats as they happen
Lookout has launched a new app – its Mobile Threat tracker software. It is a real-time visual tool that allows users to view the thousands of mobile threats that the company identifies and catches every day. The app enables users to see the current mobile threat activity as well as viewing the top three threats that Lookout is protecting against at any given time. Since the data is in real time, users can also see as threats as they appear and disappear around the world. The company believes that this tool will provide a great resource for mobile analysts and enthusiasts to gain insight into the current level of mobile threats. Continue reading
Posted in android, mobile security
Tagged android, Depositmobi, legacy, lookout, malware, mobile security, RuPaidMarket, spyware
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Mobile security apps are all down to a question of semantics
Rating: The market for Android antivirus software will get very hot
GoMo News is just back from two days of heavy duty discussions (in Prague) over mobile security software and has come to the conclusion that a lot of the controversy surrounding this subject is down to semantics. There’s no getting away from the fact that in popular parlance the category into which these apps fit is antivirus. No matter if the actual battling with viruses is only a tiny part of the whole protection such apps provide. The general public basically doesn’t differentiate between a virus, a phishing attempt or an item of malware. Maybe they even include spam in the mix as well. Just say your app offers antivirus protection and consumers are happy. The next hurdle to overcome is what happens if your app is free – like Avast! Software‘s is? Is it inferior to paid-for apps? The short answer is No. Continue reading
Posted in android, mobile security
Tagged android, antivirus, Avast, free, malware, Milos Korenko, phisphing
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NetQin ups the anti-phishing capability of it Mobile Security app
Rating: Strikes a deal to add Commtouch’s GlobalView URL filtering
NetQin Mobile has struck a deal with Commtouch to integrate Commtouch‘s GlobalView URL filtering into NetQin’s Mobile Security app. The pair forgot to mention it, but this app will run on Symbian, BlackBerry and Android with support for Windows Mobile currently but not Windows Phone (W7 Mango) quite yet. The move is a reaction to the growing awareness that phishing (stealing personal data) is a growing problem for mobile phone users. Through URL filtering, the pair hope to prevent threats before they can even get near the user’s smartphone. Continue reading
Posted in BlackBerry, Mobile applications, WP7, Windows Mobile, android, symbian
Tagged anti-virus, Commtouch, GlobalView, Henry Yu Lin, malware, mobile security, NetQin, phishing, URL filtering
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GoMo News discovers why DNS matters for operators
Rating: As data traffic grows, so do the threats
Here’s something which GoMo News hardly ever considers – the Domain Name System (DNS) – a key element to the whole internet. Initially, we weren’t quite sure why F5 Networks sent us a Press release on its carrier-grade DNS services which enable CSPs “to scale their DNS infrastructures more efficiently, significantly reduce costs, and more quickly deploy critical new revenue-generating services.” Then we realised that CSPs include mobile network operators. It appears that smartphones may be capable of wreaking far more havoc on the internet than we might first have assumed. And there’s a growing threat from mobile malware. Continue reading
Posted in Featured, Mobile Operators, mobile security
Tagged Akshay Sharma, F5, gartner, Linda Hui, malware
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Malware threat maybe exaggerated
Rating: Beware of Netflix malware – Android.Fakeneflic
There’s a healthy debate going on as to how vulnerable mobile phones are becoming to attacks from viruses and malware. The FT (here) has just reported figures from Lookout Mobile Security which claims that between January and June [2011], there was a 250 per cent increase in the likelihood of users encountering malware on their mobile devices. By comparison, Juniper Networks says Google Android malware samples grew 400 per cent between June 2010 and January 2011. Against this, Craig Scroggie who is md for the Pacific region operations with Symantec, has stated that the overall volume of mobile threats remains low compared to computer-based threats. Writing in the Technology Spectator here, he claimed, “It is not accurate to say the anticipated ‘explosion’ has occurred.” Continue reading
Posted in android, iphone, mobile security
Tagged Android.Fakeneflic, Craig Scroggie, John Dasher, lookout, malware, McAfee, Security, Social Networking, Symantec
2 Comments
UK watchdog aims to counter threats from apps
Rating:mBlox fined for aiding Battery Booster UK scam
The UK’s regulator of premium rate telephone services (PRS), PhonepayPlus, has acted to tackle hidden threats to consumers from apps on smartphones.The watchdog is primarily concerned about apps which maliciously charge consumers without their knowledge or consent. Hence – in order to protect the digital and m-commerce markets (as well as the interests of consumers) – Phonepayplus has been consulting with industry stakeholders. It has now come up with a series of key recommendations. Paul Whiteing, PhonepayPlus’ CEO, commented, “We know that the best regulation is one that works collaboratively with industry to pre-empt before problems occur that harm consumers and damage markets.” Sadly, industry stalwart – mBlox – managed to perpetuate one of the worst instances of app malware so far. Continue reading
Posted in Mobile applications, mobile security
Tagged andrew bud, Battery Booster UK, malware, mblox, Paul Whiteing, PhonepayPlus, PRS, regulator
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Bullguard gives Chinese app site app all clear
Rating: illustrates need for good security software
Having written several reports that Chinese app stores held particular dangers for Android users – see ‘Security warning as Android virus hits China‘ and ‘Piracy & Malware go hand-in-hand‘ , GoMo News was very suspicious when we started to download an app for a Chinese Android app store. The store in question is 1mobile.com. What caused us concern is that the description for the app was still in Chinese and if you do a lookup onWhois.com for 1mobile.com, there’s not much information. So we did the sensible thing and contacted a reputable supplier of mobile anti-malware Bullguard. Luckily, the company has given this particular app the all clear but it can’t vouch for the hundreds of other apps on this store. The moral here is get yourself some decent security software installed before you start downloading other apps. Continue reading
Posted in App stores, android, mobile cloud, mobile security
Tagged 1mobile, android, AVG, Bullguard, Chinese, Creative Apps, malware, NetQin
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Google under fire over malware in Market
Rating: More evidence of shoddy treatment of app developers
The wires have gone crazy with the news that more than 50 malicious apps have been sitting in the Android Market. They are apparently infected with malware identified by Trend Micro as ANDROIDOS_LOTOOR.A. More details here. The most disturbing thing is that Google’s attention was only drawn to the problem when it read a blog posted by reddit contributor, lompolo, here. Google’s apparent distain for its own developer community is highlighted for the second time today. (See our Android Union story here). According to Trend Micro’s blog (written by Trend’s security guru Rik Ferguson) here, one developer had done his/her best to draw Google’s attention to the problem days before. Continue reading
Posted in App stores, android, google, mobile security
Tagged ANDROIDOS_LOTOOR.A, Caveman, google, Guitar Solo Lite, lompolo, malware, market, reddit, Rik Ferguson, rooting, Trend Micro
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