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SMS Trojan Steals From Android Owners
siliconbits writes "A Trojan posing as a media player for Android smartphones automatically sends text messages to premium rate numbers, according to Kaspersky Lab. Company officials say the Trojan, dubbed Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a, is the first of its kind for the Android platform, even though SMS Trojans are currently the most widespread type of malware on mobile phones."
Yes, the user must approve giving the 'Trojan' access to sending text messages, which is included under a big banner that says "Things that can cost you money". Of course, after the 40th or 50th app installed, no one reads them anymore and just clicks the OK button, but Android does notify you of what it's capable of, and even that requires you to check the install apps from other sources button.
Why bother? I read it, and I still don't know silly details like what the name of this app is, or whether it's been pulled from the Android Market. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't even know *if* it was in the Android Market, or if it's a side-load app. For all I know, Kaspersky "discovered" a proof-of-concept app that they developed themselves. Yeah, that last bit is pretty unlikely, but reading TFA is no help at all in ruling it out.....
Content fail for TFA.
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
So this should lead to police activity quickly enough, right? One can't (at this time) prove where the trojan came from, but it's easy enough to see who benefits and what accounts the money gets paid into. That should all get frozen, cops should kick down some doors, machines should get confiscated?
Will this happen?
-- "Oh. This guy again."
It's amazing how far folks are falling over themselves to defend this type of activity on the Android platform ("well it's their own fault" and "they should have read the warning"). I hate to break it to everyone, but most Android users are not geeks, nerds, or techies. They will do just as windows users have been doing for decades and click 'OK' when prompted. Such behavior should be expected and accounted for, or provisions made to protect end users in spite of themselves.
The difference here? There is no virus scan or malware blocker to save them.