Sadly, 2012 Might Also be the Year of Mobile Clones, Spammers, and Malware
By: Hillel Fuld
Well, I guess it was only a matter of time… With the Web came viruses and email spam, something we have all been dealing with for years. Of course, things have gotten a lot better with new software and firewalls to protect us, but in reality, the writers of the viruses are only getting smarter and adapting to the new types of protection. With the recent explosion in mobile popularity, it is no surprise that these issues are showing their face on mobile phones as well.
In terms of mobile viruses and malware, Android is the proud king. Many attribute that fact to its “open” nature of Google pretty much allowing any app to make it way to the Android Market.
There is, of course, another explanation, in Google’s defense. Android is by far the most popular mobile OS and if you, for some odd reason, were inclined to infect as many mobile phones as possible, Android would be your desired target.
A recent McAfee report analyzing the mobile malware phenomenon included the following findings:
Some of the numbers in the McAfee report include the following:
- The amount of Android malware jumped nearly 37% since last quarter.
- There are an expected 75 million unique malware samples reached by year’s end.
- The Android platform was the only mobile operating system for all new mobile malware in Q3.
You can see more information in the chart below or in this post.
None of that is new, what IS new is the latest trend of mobile developers trying to clone popular apps in the hopes of making it as big as the original developer. The latest story is of course an Android app that cloned the popular Siri on the iPhone 4s.
“That is crazy talk, there are many other voice recognition apps out there, on both iOS and Android! All you Apple fanboys think Android users are always trying to copy you”. If that’s what you were saying to yourself, then you are going to want to read on.
OK, so the app was (it has since been removed by Google) called Siri for Android, which you do not need to be a rocket scientist to realize is a problematic name, from a legal perspective. All it really offered was a shortcut to the already built-in Google voice recognition software.
The developer himself says “Siri, now for your Android device!” Then continues to explain what the app really is. In the short period of time in which the app was live on the Market, it was installed on thousands of devices. Thousands.
Now, here is the thing. Google removed the app hours after it was released and removed all of the other apps released by the same developer. Except, think about what this means for a second. Clearly, Google would never have approved such an app in the first place out of fear of copyright/trademark infringing issues. So, one can only conclude that it took Google hours to even hear about this app and remove it.
Now imagine the same story but with a malicious app. The damage such an app could cause to thousands of consumers is devastating for people who depend on their mobile device.
OK, Apple fanboys, I know what you’re thinking. “That is what happens when you don’t oversee the process of app approval closely. That is what you get when you open up your OS to developers and the general public. That would never happen in the world of Apple.”
C’mon, you know that is what you were thinking. Well, get a load of the photo below!
You know what that is? A screen shot I took of an app that was AT THE TOP of the App Store charts. Look familiar? Yes, it is a near-perfect clone of the popular Angry Birds game. I am not talking about thousands of installs, we are talking a significantly higher number than that if it reached such high ranks.
“OK, Apple must have removed that seconds after it hit the App Store, right”? Well if by seconds, you mean an entire month, then yes. A month after this ridiculous copy of another app hit Apple’s shores, the company actually removed it.
At the kickoff of 2012, these are some seriously worrisome signs of where mobile security is going. Let’s not forget that the potential damage of hacking into someone’s mobile phone is in theory much greater than a computer. Your smartphone has all your contacts, your photos, your location at almost any given moment, who you talk to and much more. That is not the kind of information I am comfortable knowing is possibly exposed to hackers. How about you?
