“A particularly nasty mobile malware campaign targeting Android users has hit between four million and 4.5 million Americans since January of 2013, according to an estimate by Lookout, a San Francisco mobile security company that has been tracking the malware for about two years,” Nicole Perlroth reports for The New York Times.
“Lookout first encountered the mobile malware, called NotCompatible, two years ago and has since seen increasingly sophisticated versions. Lookout said it believes, based on attempted infections of its user base of 50 million, that the total number of people who have encountered the malware in the United States exceeds four million,” Perlroth reports. “The attackers goal, researchers say, is to infect as many smartphones as possible and turn them into a so-called botnet, a network of infected devices that can be used by attackers for various malicious purposes”
“Lookout says the malware, now on its third iteration, allows infected devices to search for and communicate with other infected machines and share intelligence. Attackers also have found a way to encrypt communications between their command and control center and infected devices, which makes it more difficult to detect and decipher,” Perlroth reports. “All this malicious activity can be costly. The criminals are incurring data charges on phones that, ultimately, victims are held responsible for. As if that weren’t annoying enough, researchers say the malware causes tremendous battery drainage.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dale E.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
There’s practically no iOS malware, thanks to Apple’s smart control over app distribution – June 13, 2014
F-Secure: Android accounted for 99% of new mobile malware in Q1 2014 – April 30, 2014
Google’s Sundar Pichai: Android not designed to be safe; if I wrote malware, I’d target Android, too – February 27, 2014
Cisco: Android the target of 99 percent of world’s mobile malware – January 17, 2014
U.S. DHS, FBI warn of malware threats to Android mobile devices – August 27, 2013
Android app malware rates skyrocket 40 percent in last quarter – August 7, 2013
First malware found in wild that exploits Android app signing flaw – July 25, 2013
Mobile Threats Report: Android accounts for 92% of all mobile malware – June 26, 2013
Latest self-replicating Android Trojan looks and acts just like Windows malware – June 7, 2013
99.9% of new mobile malware targets Android phones – May 30, 2013
Mobile malware exploding, but only for Android – May 14, 2013
Mobile malware: Android is a bad apple – April 15, 2013
F-Secure: Android accounted for 96% of all mobile malware in Q4 2012 – March 7, 2013
New malware attacks Android phones, Windows PCs to eavesdrop, steal data; iPhone, Mac users unaffected – February 4, 2013
Is Google’s Android going to be the death of our networks? Imagine if 50 million phones call launched an attack at the same time… imagine the impact on the networks. Scary!
Thankfully mobile usage of Android is minimal as many Android devices are just gathering dust in drawers while their owners save up for iOS solutions. 🙂
A good number are too poor to afford generous data plans.
I know that we make fun of Android users around here, but you and russ are making light of a potentially serious situation. Four plus million compromised Android phones is no joke…for anyone.
If this was about iPhone it would be front page and on every TV news show. Android? Not so much as even a mention on our local San Jose Mercury that falls all over itself with any hint of a rumored Apple problem. How come?
An intriguing question… Does anyone have an answer that is credible, not just random media bashing?
Apple is, among tech companies, a major celebrity. They’re, essentially, the Jolie, Pitt, Taylor Swift, and Robert Downey Jr’s of the tech world, all rolled into one.
Just as with those Hollywood types, anytime Apple has the least misstep, the media is all over it, like white on rice.
Android, on the other hand, represents more the Gary Busey types. Not all that talented and we already know they’re a train wreck, so hardly newsworthy.
I understand what you say. But Google is also a celebrity. What’s baffling is that all we read about Google is about the self driving cars and Google Glass, neither of which are real products. And all we hear about Android is about it’s market share.
I suppose your right, unless Android blows up and causes some major catastrophe in cellular networks, it will continue the way it has.
Negative media attention to Apple hasn’t substantially hurt sales of the bottom line. Maybe most Apple customers don’t read newspapers.
Google is like the Nickelback of corporations. All bluster and blandness with very little memorable action.
A one-off fad that will be completely forgotten about in 15 years time.
I bet if you surveyed Android users, a big chunk of them have no idea Gooogle has a thing to do with it….they just know they have a Samsung phone.
The worst malware infecting those phones is Android. Made by Google, who is in the business of selling your info to make a buck, who’s to say that this “malware” isn’t part of Android itself? Communicating with another phone nearby to gather info from other users, which could then be resold? Wouldn’t surprise me.
I think thats what open is for. Open to get all the garbage. Enjoy!
Android uses open door security because intruder detection/protection couldn’t be monitized by ad revenue. There’s simply then no incentive to develop for it.
As with most of these malware “hype” articles, the only source of information is from the company that stands to gain the most by propagating the story. Of course, I wouldn’t be caught dead with an Android device… malware or not. SJBMusic is right on target with his take. But I a bit skeptical that this is actually a problem. I’ll sit back and watch this Chicken Little fiasco.
Isn’t That Ssspecial.
So, the article says 4-5 million android phones infected since january 2013. That is NOT a lot of phones in android-land. This doesn’t seem like that big a deal to me.
But it does bring up something I’ve never understood — why AREN’T there billions-level infections of android phones? I’ve been expecting that for years, and it never happens.
A 5 million node botnet is gigantic. Beyond humongous even.
Yup, if each node reached out to 1000 other devices, that told impact 1 billion devices very quickly.
that “would” impact… grrrrr, which these posts were editable. 😛
And the BBC still manages – out of nowhere – to show a photo of the iPhone on the article about this very problem.
They can’t suck Google’s dick enough over there.
Android malware was already implicated in botnets mining Bitcoins, as absurd as that sounds.
The summary message is that Android is a Rat’s Nest of malware. And Google’s only response is to identify and remove it remotely from your Android device AFTER you’re infected. Isn’t that special.
iOS? It continues to be the pristine closed garden of no malware. Not that bugs don’t get into the garden! But by default, iOS has NO malware and Apple is determined to keep it that way. Thank you Apple.
So what’s the master plan here: to make 4 million losers’ phones all die at the same time? Ooooh noooh!
Cannot help but notice the parallels between Microsoft and Google.
Microsoft: Overwhelming market share of Windows => Perpetual malware problems => Bad perception of Windows by the public = > Eventual non-relevance of Windows
Android: Overwhelming market share of Android => Perpetual malware problems => Bad perception of Android by the public = > Eventual non-relevance of Android
Right now Android is at the second stage of malware problems. The rest will follow since Google also behaves just like Microsoft in trying to leverage it’s search monopoly.