Be Careful in Downloading Apps from the Android Market

[johannes]

Just FYI, folks.

I'm not posting this to pit Apple App Store fans vs Google Android Market fans. This isn't about Apple vs Google, either. I'm posting this simply as an announcement and I hope none of the apps mentioned in the succeeding articles are in your Android devices.

Google pulls 21 apps in Android malware scare

Google has just pulled 21 popular free apps from the Android Market. According to the company, the apps are malware aimed at getting root access to the user's device, gathering a wide range of available data, and downloading more code to it without the user's knowledge.

Although Google has swiftly removed the apps after being notified (by the ever-vigilant "Android Police" bloggers), the apps in question have already been downloaded by at least 50,000 Android users.

Related article:

Is Google's Android Market dangerous?

Google's Android Market experienced its first real security lapse on Wednesday as more than a dozen apps were were found to be lined with malicious code that could be used to steal user information and more.

These apps were promptly pulled from Google's smartphone app store, but not before raising serious questions about the Android Market's safety.

Unlike Apple's App Store, the Android Market prides itself on being "open," which, in geek speak, means Google doesn't hand-pick the apps that will be sold for phones running its operating system.
Apple, by comparison, approves apps individually.

This makes Google very popular with developers, who know that apps they develop for Android will be sold online as long as they comply with certain guidelines. But this freedom comes with a drawback: Security risk.

Source: CNN Tech

[loudsound]

Here are some details on this Android Market attacks, the article came from Macworld. Highlighting some of the important facts here:

Source: Macworld

Google will build new safeguards into Android Market, its application store for the Android mobile OS, following an attack that infected thousands of phones and forced the company to wipe the malware remotely from phones, it said late Saturday.

More than 50 applications in the Android Market were found to contain a program called DroidDream, which is capable of stealing information about a mobile device and, more dangerously, downloading other malicious applications to the phone.

Google was fairly silent about the problem until Saturday, when it confirmed in a blog post that it decided to use a command that remotely erases malicious applications.

Android users that have downloaded a malicious application will get an e-mail within three days from the address android-market-support@google.com explaining the situation, wrote Rich Cannings , Android’s Security Lead. In addition to wiping malware, Google is also forcing an update on users called “Android Market Security Tool March 2011” which fixes the security issues that DroidDream exploits.

Some users may get a notification on their device that a malicious application has been removed, Cannings wrote. About a day after the vulnerabilities have been fixed, users will receive a second e-mail.

Phones running Android versions below 2.2.2 are vulnerable. The issues are fixed in the latest 2.3 version of Android, known as “Gingerbread.”

DroidDream uses two exploits called “exploid” and “rageagainstthecage” to get installed on the phone, according to Lookout Mobile Security, a company that has analyzed DroidDream. The company was tipped off to the situation last week by a Reddit user going by the name of Lompolo.

Lookout posted a deeper analysis of DroidDream on its blog on Sunday, revealing more alarming details of the application. DroidDream is coded to only operate from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m., “a time when the owner of an infected device would most likely be sleeping and not notice any strange behaviors on the phone.”

DroidDream gains root access to Android’s Linux operating system. Google wrote that it appeared to gather a device’s International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number and the SIM card’s International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number.

That information was sent to a remote service located in Fremont, Calif., according to Lookout.

After sending the information, DroidDream downloads a system application called “DownloadProviderManager.apk,” which prevents someone from either seeing it or uninstalling it without other special permissions, according to Lookout.

That second stage application then collects additional information, including product identification, phone model, language used on the phone, country information and userIDs, Lookout wrote. It can also silently download other applications.

“The first phase of the malware served to gain root access on the device while the second phase predominantly serves to maintain a connection to the command-and-control server to download and install other files,” Lookout wrote. “Because we have not seen the command-and-control server issue commands to download additional applications we cannot divine their exact purpose. However the possibilities are limitless.”

“DroidDream could be considered a powerful zombie agent that can install any applications silently and execute code with root privileges at will,” Lookout wrote.

Google has taken the affected applications, many of which were legitimate applications that had been modified with DroidDream, out of the Android market. It banned the publishers of the tainted applications and contacted law enforcement, it said.

The DroidDream incident marks the first wide-scale infestation of Google’s official Android Market with malware, although there have been prior instances of tampered applications.

Google does little vetting of the Android Market, saying it wants developers to be able to quickly get applications in the hands of users. Nonetheless, “security is a priority for the Android team, and we’re committed to building new safeguards to help prevent these kinds of attacks from happening in the future,” Cannings wrote.

[bad_boy]

Google will be performing a remote kill for the malware apps.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/05/and...ogle-response/

I guess this is why Apple implemented the killswitch in iOS 2.0.