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More Malicious Apps Found On Google Play
suraj.sun writes "We've seen quite a few Android malware discoveries in the recent past, mostly on unofficial Android markets. There was a premium-rate SMS Trojan that not only sent costly SMS messages automatically, but also prevented users' carriers from notifying them of the new charges, a massive Android malware campaign that may be responsible for duping as many as 5 million users, and an malware controlled via SMS. Ars Technica is now reporting another Android malware discovery made by McAfee researcher Carlos Castillo, this time on Google's official app market, Google Play, even after Google announced back in early February that it has started scanning Android apps for malware. Two weeks ago, a separate set of researchers found malicious extensions in the Google Chrome Web Store that could gain complete control of users' Facebook profiles. Quoting the article: 'The repeated discoveries of malware hosted on Google servers underscore the darker side of a market that allows anyone to submit apps with few questions asked. Whatever critics may say about Apple's App Store, which is significantly more selective about the titles it hosts, complaints about malware aren't one of them.'"
You don't need a permission to read the Android Device ID, however READ_PHONE_STATE gives them access to the ESN, MEID, IMEI, IMSI etc...
The other worrisome problems with that permission are that:
1) It is granted by default for any apps targeting 1.5 or below, and the user is not warned about it.
2) It also allows some access to see incoming and outgoing numbers when a call is taking place.
PocketPermissions Android Permission Guide
"Google has removed at least 15 Android apps from its official Play market after receiving outside reports they were malicious trojans that siphoned names, telephone numbers of email addresses of every person in the phone's contact list.
Which is exactly what some iOS apps are also doing. This is not an Android specific problem.
And how is that solution different from Android? Android already requires users to authorize apps to read contact details, the problem is that most people don't care. These Android apps are being called malware because they upload the contacts list without permission, which is exactly the same as many ios apps do.
So the ones that raid your contacts and send the information to persons unknown are fine?
Clearly not. But they are many times less bad than the Android one described that is costing you serious money by sending premium-rate SMSs.