Smart Phone Viruses
WHAT CAN AN ANDROID VIRUS
DO TO YOU?
If a virus gets into your phone, then it can send text messages. You are probably thinking, “Big deal, I have unlimited text so sending a couple of extra texts might be annoying, but how can it cost me money?”
There is a concept called premium-rate text messages. These text messages were used by the Red Cross after earthquakes, to raise money. A user sends a text to a number, which donates money to a cause, and the donation gets added onto your phone bill.
The virus will send “donations” via premium texts to an off-shore account, where they will collect the money!
HOW CAN THE VIRUS GET ON TO YOUR ANDROID?
The way the virus can get onto your Android device is by the hacker issuing a fake update for an app, which the user will download. This allows the hacker access to your phone, since when the user downloads an app, he gives the app access to certain features. With the access granted, the hacker will be able to send these premium text messages.
WHAT ARE THE POSSIBILITIES
THIS WILL HAPPEN?
According to Google, “the company isn’t aware of any current vulnerability and said that while it’s hypothetically possible to hack into a distributor account, a recent update has closed some of those vulnerabilities.”
In November, Chris DiBona, open source programs manager at Google, wrote on his Google+ profile that companies like Webroot and other antivirus manufacturers are “charlatans and scammers.”
In February, Google introduced “Bouncer”, which scans Google Play for malware.
Jacques Erasmus, chief information security officer for Webroot, a cyber security company says there are more than 9,000 known viruses and trojans for Android.
A study by Juniper Networks found that malware targeting Android users increased 3,000 percent since 2011!
ARE THE CURRENT
ANTI-VIRUS
PROGRAMS ANY GOOD?
Last month, AV-Test, an independent German security institute found only 7 of the 41 tested anti-virus programs to be able to detect 90 percent of the malware.
WHY ANDROID?
There are several factors as to why the Android operating system is being targeted:
1. There are 850,000 new Android devices activated daily.
2. Over 300 million users worldwide.
3. The Android operating system is an open platform, which means a lot less regulation than Apple.
