Six Arrested Over Japanese Android Porn Virus

AZA43 writes "Tokyo police have arrested six men, including two IT executives and one former tech exec, in connection with an Android malware campaign that netted $265,000. The men created a piece of Android malware that they disguised as a video player and distributed through an adult website. The app stole personal information and attempted to extort money for data 'protection services.' The malware doesn't appear to be particularly sophisticated, but it convinced more than 200 horny Japanese dudes to shell out $1200 each. And the arrests are one of, if not the, first time a major police force brought down criminals who used Android malware to extort a significant chunk of cash."

Comments

Ahem

[Anonymous Coward]

convinced more than 200 horny Japanese dudes to shell out $1200 each

Either A) Japanese women don't look at porn, or B) They were smart enough not to shell out $1200

Re:Ahem

[Nadaka]

Either A) Japanese women don't look at porn, or B) They were smart enough not to shell out $1200

Or C) They don't use Android.

Japanese women ARE Android.

Re:Ahem

[Anonymous Coward]

Dermatologist here. Posting as AC via TOR for obvious reasons - if my fellow professionals found out I am breaking the code and talking about this, they would kill my family and make me watch. We are doing everything we can to stop this woman, but the truth she has uncovered is just too powerful. We're not doing this just to protect our profession, but because the first-world economy is dependent on our spending. If this gets out, and people stop going to dermatologists, it could mean the end of civilization as we know it. Damn that woman!

Wait wait wait

[davidbrit2]

Are we talking Android, the operating system, or android, the robot design concept? This is Japan we're talking about, so... you never know.

Re:Wait wait wait

[kehren77]

I saw "Japanese Android Porn" and just assumed robot. Android the OS didn't even occur to me for a 10-15 seconds.

Re:But /. said Linux don't get malware?

[TheCarp]

Linux will get malware when? Ha, we have had malware for years, haven't you ever heard of emacs? It is a nearly fullly functional trojan OS disguised as a shitty text editor. This is nothing new for us.

Re:But /. said Linux don't get malware?

[vawwyakr]

These people elected to install a program on their phone from a porn site without considering the security implications. This wasn't a virus breaking in through some security hole. This was a program that required the user to turn off a security setting on the phone and then install ignoring the security page (or they thought "sure it seems completely normal that some porn video player requires those security settings"). So the only blame here is the user doing something entirely stupid. iOS of course fixes this by assuming its users are stupid and locking them into only allowing apps from their market to be installed.

Re:Walled Gardens look quite nice

[amicusNYCL]

I guess if your only 2 options were a walled garden or a "field of manure" then you might have a point. A malicious app that affected 200 people doesn't exactly taint the entire Android environment. Conversely, the walled garden approach does affect all non-jailbroken iOS users.