Google Acknowledges, Handles Malware Issue
Looks like we may finally put an end to this malware nightmare that struck fear into the hearts of all Android users over the past week. A number of fraudulent applications part of an attack called “Droid Dream” have been removed from the Android market by Google.
They state that users on Android 2.2.1 and lower were at risk, so those of you on Gingerbread or Honeycomb shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Furthermore, Google will be employing their kill switch that’ll allow them to remotely remove those applications from any device that has them installed. It’s a security measure we heard about long ago and one we’re appreciating more and more as new attacks are carried out.
This particular attack is first able to send your device’s information to a remote server, but further investigation helped security experts discover code that would allow the application to download additional code. This tactic is by far the most dangerous of them all – users won’t think twice when an application isn’t asking to access all of their device’s information and features.
The skinny of it is that those applications have now been removed and Google says they’re working to make sure incidents like these are minimized in the future. Having an open market is great, but it comes with great responsibility and we hope Google’s doing all they can to make people feel safe about downloading applications in the future. [Google]