Millions of Android phone users slammed by malicious data theft app

“An app distributed by Google’s Android Market has collected private data from millions of users and forwarded it to servers China, validating Apple’s uniquely strong stance on mobile security in the iPhone App Store,” Daniel Eran Dilger reports for AppleInsider. “The exploit, tied to an app that appeared to simply load free custom background wallpapers, was downloaded ‘anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times. The exact number isn’t known because the Android Market doesn’t offer precise data,'” according to a report by Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat.”

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Dilger reports, “The app ‘collects a user’s browsing history, text messages, your phone’s SIM card number, subscriber identification, and even your voice mail password. It sends the data to a web site, http://www.imnet.us. That site is evidently owned by someone in Shenzhen, China,’ the report noted.

“The data theft was only discovered afterward, through forensics performed by mobile security firm named Lookout which sells virus and malware protection software for Android, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices,” Dilger reports. “The problem was announced at the Black Hat security conference being held in Las Vegas.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Don’t worry, anti-virus leeches and PC fix-it shops, Google will help you transition your based-on-failure business models to the post-Windows world.

Smart people don’t saddle themselves with wannabes, they go with the real thing, from the real innovator. A copier’s work is by nature derivative and behind the curve. Google’s Android = Microsoft’s Windows (without any meaningful sticker price savings).

Please see also: When Closed Is Better Than Open: Apple vs. Google – Joel West, Seeking Alpha, July 29, 2010

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “breeze” for the heads up.]