Android Hackers Honing Skills In Russia

MikeatWired writes "The malware business growing around Google Android — now the leading smartphone operating system — is still in its infancy. Today, many of the apps built to steal money from Android users originate from Russia and China, so criminal gangs there have become cyber-trailblazers. Sophos and Symantec on Wednesday released their latest Android malware discoveries written in Russian. While the language narrows the number of potential victims, the social-engineering tactics used to get Android users to install the malware is universal. The gang tracked by Sophos is using fake antivirus scanners, while Symantec is tracking cybercriminals using mobile websites to offer bogus versions of popular games. Sophos says the criminals are like other entrepreneurs launching startups. They're starting in Russia, but have far greater ambitions. 'I don't think we can say that they're necessarily using it as a testing ground — think of it more as a local business that as it grows may gain multinational ambitions,' Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said in an email interview on Wednesday. The cyber scam tracked by Sophos was reported this week by GFI Lab, which discovered links to the bogus antivirus software on Twitter. Sophos dug deeper and found that the .ru domains pointed to the same Internet protocol address hosted in Ukraine."

Comments

Why bother

[symbolset]

With android isn't it just easier to write a legitimate app and just rake in the cash? I don't see the reasoning behind going through all the extra effort, the money laundering, etc.

Reaction

[SuperKendall]

With android isn't it just easier to write a legitimate app and just rake in the cash?

HA HA HA HO HE HA HA HA HA.

In my day...

[TheGothicGuardian]

Bah, you kids and your silly Russian hackers. Back in my day, when an android got hacked, it ended up going on a spree and killing half the town.