Report: Android malware doubled in just one month

That was the Mission Impossible statement, and after reading the message the device self destructed in 5 seconds. If the information from Trend Micro is correct (and it does seem a very, very unusual enormous increase) then I get the feeling it paints an unpleasant "self destruct" picture for Google's Android. Of all places, the Google Play store should be malware free - otherwise confidence in Android heads downwards. Of course, there could be other self interested forces at play here about which I know absolutely nothing. Wiser heads to comment ?

Minor update: And of all things, this just popped up on our local newspaper site:

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/botnet-sends-out-...

Gee, what huge, experienced, well funded software enterprise with a competitor for Android, would benefit from Android being suddenly and publicly infected with a spate of malware?

Of course, that would never happen.

@Bob_Robertson........Wanna bet ? If I read the article correctly, your question is being answered in the affirmative.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/07/05/security-researchers-...

@Ridcully

That deserves posting.

@BernardSwiss.....done. I hadn't thought of that. Thankyou.

Edit update........You just cannot win......Take a look at this lot:

http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/none/300005-android-botnet-no...

The evidence that Android was compromised is now getting awfully thin.

Quoting:The evidence that Android was compromised is now getting awfully thin.

Indeed. The announcement of the Android malware has been suspiciously close to news of the CURRENT malware du jour, DNS Changer.

For further info regarding DNS Changer, see such fine sites as the FBI's International Cyber Ring That Infected Millions of Computers Dismantled and that of the DNS Changer Working Group.

Apparently, DNS Changer has been primarily affecting Windows and Mac OS-X machines rather than Linux or Android devices.

> Apparently, DNS Changer has been primarily affecting Windows and Mac OS-X machines rather than Linux or Android devices.

I'm surprised it was able to hit Macs, but multiple sources on the web confirm it. So this wasn't only a Windows problem.

The first I'd heard about it was Friday night when one of my friends asked about it.

Got three calls last week alone, relatives preparing to panic over this.

Worried pitch to voice

Is this going to affect me?

Me:

Yes, if you are still running Windows. Did you do the dual boot to Linux like I suggested>

Relative:

No.

Me:

Then yes, you are probably screwed.

Laughs and hangs up phone.

They know not to call me about this stuff anymore. I made it abundantly clear in 2009. Of the 16 family members I used to support, 5 of them are still using Windows and they know that my time to work on their computers now costs $75.00 an hour, whether it's phone or in person support. Relatives are the worst and they will suck the life out of you, asking you to fix their computers. What stopped me finally was that I was fixing the very same problems over and over again. Stupid is as stupid does.

Funny I only hear from them now when the sky is falling. The other 11 I only hear from at Christmas....They are running either Mint or Mageia.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/05/google_denies_micros...

You mean Microsoft spreads FUD about Android? Like they spread FUD about Linux in general? I'm shocked, I tell you! Simply shocked!

When I saw the source of the botnet claim I knew it had to be taken with a grain... no, a boulder of salt.

While only a conspiracy theory I just made up myself, I would not be surprised in the least if, like the US govt writing Stuxnet, Microsoft didn't have a "skunk works" of excellent programmers cracking Android and, at the least, quietly leaking vulnerabilities to various nefarious characters.

Surely, if I can think of something like this, one of the "best and brightest" at Microsoft could have also.