Android malware may be transmitting personal user data to unauthorized computers, indicating increasing security vulnerabilities in the OS and drawing criticism and concern, especially as Android devices grow in business and government usage.
Researchers at Calif.-based security firm Dasient looked at 10,000 applications for Androidsmartphones in a random sampling, and discovered more than eight percent of the apps transmit personal user data to unauthorized computers.
More than 800 of the examined apps leaked information like the specific phone and subscriber numbers that unauthorized servers can easily use to clone the data and sell it in bulk to illegal organizations that replicate phones -- a fact that may have alarming implications.
Some of the particular malware discovered by Dasient takes over a smartphone, automatically sending text messages to entire contact lists and racking up charges unbeknownst to the user.
Another type of malware gets into smartphones when users aren't installing anything, but simply browsing a site. Called "drive-By downloads," this category of malware infects a smartphone when its user simply visits a malicious site. For example, Dasient found drive-by downloads populating several phony websites featuring the popular Angry Birds mobile game.
The implications of these weaknesses are potentially alarming, especially as smartphone usage grows into businesses. Since corporations and governmental agencies often allow employees to use personal devices for work, these types of malicious apps may jump from smartphone to major business and governmental networks.
This past spring, Google renewed efforts to make its Android OS business-friendly to take advantage of growing dissatisfaction with the corporate-set's longtime favorite device, the BlackBerry. Several businesses, like Deutsche Bank, are moving away from the BlackBerry devices and towards employee's personal smartphones and devices.
But incidents of increasing malware on Google's OS may have a negative impact, causing the AndroidOS to lose out in the corporate game.
Security advocates point out the Android Market's approximately 300,000 apps are largely unregulated, since the store doesn't apply even basic security screens to make sure they are free of malware. While this makes it attractive to developers who don't have to wait while their offering is screened, critics say it is bad for consumers and may cause problems in the workplace.
From consumer to corporation, the continuing multiplication of malware riddling the Android Market is a growing problem that, if not addressed, is bound to take its toll.
