“Want a free Windows Phone? Well, it turns out that you may be able to get one for free – all you need to do is tell Microsoft about the malware problems you’ve had with Android smartphones,” Graham Cluley blogs for Spohos.
“Ben Rudolph, Microsoft’s Windows Phone ‘evangelist,’ is the brainbox behind the scheme which has adopted the hashtag ‘#droidrage’ on Twitter,” Cluley writes. “Linking followers to current news articles about Android malware, Rudolph says he will give an ‘upgrade’ to a Windows Phone to the ‘5 best (worst?)’ stories about being hit by Android malware.”
“I guess it must be kind of thrilling for Microsoft – which has endorsed the “#droidrage’ campaign – to find the malware boot on the other foot for once,” Cluley writes. “Microsoft would be wise not to look too smug at the current focus on Android malware issue though – and using the issue as a promotion for Windows Phone 7 may be shortsighted. Let’s not forget, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: When even Microsoft is proclaiming to be more secure than you, you’ve got a security problem.
Android. “Open” in all the wrong ways.
You know what’s really funny is a lot of these Android settlers are Windows Sufferers, too. You know, the anti-Apple types who nevertheless strive to use the nearest Apple approximation they can find. Now these Apple haters being attacked by their pretend Mac OS vendor over their use of devices loaded with a pretend iPhone OS. What to do, what to do? If you could bake a cake made from the irony here, it’d be multi-layered and very, very sweet.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” and “GetMeOnTop” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Insecure: Malicious Android apps double in six months – December 14, 2011
Android permissions flaw allows eavesdropping, data theft, location tracking – December 2, 2011
You bank on your pretend iPhone? Are you nuts?! Android malware up 472% since July – November 16, 2011
Android security threats surge with infected ‘Angry Birds’; iPhone and iPad users unaffected – November 15, 2011
Apple’s iOS unaffected by malware as Android exploits surge 76% – August 24, 2011
McAfee: Google’s Android number one in malware – August 23, 2011
Android malware records phone calls; iPhone users unaffected – August 2, 2011
Symantec: Apple iOS offers ‘full protection,’ Google Android ‘little protection’ vs. malware attacks – June 29, 2011
Malware apps spoof Android Market to infect Android phones – June 21, 2011
Google forced to pull several malware-infested apps from Android market – June 8, 2011
Android malware sees explosive growth; even faster than with PCs – April 27, 2011
Virus-laden apps infest Google’s ‘open’ Android platform; iPhone unaffected – March 3, 2011
Security firm warns of new Android trojan that can steal personal information; iPhone unaffected – December 30, 2010
Trojan infects Android smartphones; iPhone unaffected – August 10, 2010
Millions of Android phone users slammed by malicious data theft app – July 29, 2010
Unlike proactive Apple, reactive Google doesn’t block malware from Android app store – June 4, 2010
Malware designed to steal bank information pops up in Google’s Android app store – January 11, 2010
This is like Streve Ballmer giving the clap to syphilis sufferers. Fail.
Oh LOLOLOLOL 😀 This is too rich.
and the MDN take is awesome 😀
Lord Ballmermort:
” rel=”nofollow”>MS RoadApple™.
My poor and suffering peasant subjects. You have wandered off the path of my proprietary wisdom and ventured into the swamp of open source malware. Here. Wipe yourselves with my boot and accept my generous gift of a polished and shining
Yep. You get what you get Droidroids.
> You know, the anti-Apple types who nevertheless strive to use the nearest Apple approximation they can find.
Yes, that is quite telling. But it’s a net positive for Apple. The more “anti-Apple types” there are now, the larger the pool of future Apple customers to “convert” later.
One reason Apple’s Mac business is doing so well versus the (rest of the) industry is because there are still so many Windows users out there. Each year, Apple converts a small but steady percentage into new Mac users. And once they are Mac users, most of them become very loyal.
Apple already makes most of the available profit in the mobile phone industry. Apple can’t possible produce 100% of mobile phones, or even 100% of smartphones, nor does Apple want to… Android users (and Microsoft users) have no loyalty to a brand, or their platform. And their phone makers are just selling cheap fake iPhones now to create a larger pool of future “real” iPhone customers for Apple. And once they are iPhone users, most of them become very loyal.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Droid Razr are cheap, fake iPhones? Lol, that’s some awfully twisted logic. The iPhone was only safe so long as Android didn’t swim upstream to Apple’s turf, but phones like the Galaxy S II and those other aforementioned models prove that Android morphed into something more than a cheap feature phone gimmick. That’s why Apple finally went on the attack.
It’s now more likely that Android phone makers will be able to keep their customers should they want a higher end handset.
Obviously, there are some higher-end Android devices (that are expensive fake iPhones), just as there are some higher-end PCs that run Windows. But the majority of the Windows PC market share comes from cheap low-end PCs. And the majority of Android’s market share comes from cheap low-end phones, fragmented into many “sub-platforms.”
The folks who bought those cheap low-end Android devices, if they want something better next time, are more likely to buy an iPhone (it’s happening right now). And the ones who don’t… that’s fine, Apple will eventually get them to switch, just as Apple is getting the long-term Windows collective to steadily “get a Mac.” And as I said, once they are Apple’s customers, most of them will become very loyal.
http://shop.vodafone.com.au/mobile-details/samsung-galaxy-s-II?pid=v:hme::smashem:her:sgs2-29-0-hpb-her-cta
Go figure. :rolling eyes:
Cheap? Perhaps not. But fake iPhones? You bet your a$$ they are.
*Nothing* looked like an iPod until Apple released it. *Nothing* looked like an iPhone until Apple released it. *Nothing* looked like an iPad until Apple released it. You are absolutely deluded if you do not believe that Samsung, HTC, and every other Android vendor out there copied everything possible from these products.
Have they caught up some? Sure they have, because they stole a lot of great R&D from Apple. But they are still behind and probably will be for quite some time.
Brilliant. This way Microsoft will be able to flush the channel. Maybe they can start cloning the “Mac vs PC” commercials, too. A bold new direction! A direction away from the dreadnought that is Apple!
I’m iPhone fan but When I lost my iPhone I have no other option to use android phone. I would love to try windows phone. Please send me one as my Xmas present ….
eBay, Craigslist etc. Pick up a used iPhone and throw away that android garbage.
it’s one of the main reasons iPhones sell fast on ebay/craigslist, people replacing iPhones that were lost/stolen/broke etc. so they don’t have to buy a new phone and break their current contract.. look into it, better than suffering with an android/winblows phone.
Android user choices: Which version of Herpes would you like? lol
Thereby establishing the value of both android and microsoft phones at zero.
Avoid the droid
I still believe that after windows 8, the next version will be free.
Darn they are only giving out free phones to the top 5 picks or something to that effect.
I was hoping they were going to give them out to anyone who tweeted about an Android ‘Malware’ problem. Would have been a fun way to bleed them dry.
Nice to see the “Mac users unaffected” updated for the iPhone. I expect you’ll be using it more. And I loved the irony in its use this time.
You know the only reason they don’t write any viruses for the iPhone’s IOS 5 is because there are too many of them. See, hackers are quite binary. They will write a virus that will either infect ALL cell phones or NONE. Since there are so many iPhones in use today, Hackers are unwilling to write any for iOS as they know they won’t reach every phone, like they would with WinPhone or Android.
We will call this phenomenon the Absurdity through ignorance law
I know you’re joking around, but your joke makes no sense so it’s not really funny… There are FAR TOO MANY Windows PCs out there (compared to Macs), but those hackers have no “binary” problem with writing malware for Windows. 🙂
Hackers who write malware are like thieves, and thieves are lazy. Android is easy. iOS is hard (plus third-party apps must go through a well-managed App Store unless the user “jail breaks”). Android = Low Hanging Fruit
Pretty much agree.
99% of the malware out there days are trojan horses and i agree these guys take the path of least resistance.
I have not seen a bonefied “virus” in years now. Sality/32 was the last one that had real virus functionality that i saw (2006-2007) but even it was a trojan that relied on fooling users into running it.
The returns just arent there to right a real virus and modern oses are a lot harder to exploit like the old days.
Even windows 7 is a b*tch to exploit without fooling the user and requiring them to interact. MS locked down things down to the point that some of my cross process hooking and subclassing code is broken in a few of my apps and they had worked flawless since NT4 and are completely legit.
Im sure iOS and Android have holes, but with the appstoee process its a tall order to really put something malicious out there on iOS.
Google likes to advertise being open and free but they leave out the fact that with freedom comes responsibility. On android you have to be responsible or u can get f*cked.
On iOS Apple has you covered there.
Its a decision not many people think about when buying.