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Over 60% of Android Malware Hides In Fake Versions of Popular Apps
An anonymous reader writes "Like any popular platform, Android has malware. Google's mobile operating system is relatively new, however, so the problem is still taking form. In fact, it turns out that the larger majority of threats on Android come from a single malware family: Android.FakeInstaller, also known as OpFake, which generates revenue by silently sending expensive text messages in the background. McAfee says that the malware family makes up more than 60 percent of Android samples the company processes."
Meh...
If you are not smart enough to install non-market Android apps, you have no problem.
If you are smart enough to install non-market Android apps, you know what you are getting into.
With great power comes great responsibility. I think these pieces keep surfacing because the Anti-Virus companies desperately need to get into this market. They see it is the future and they want a piece of it.
And there is less crime we we force everyone to never go out.
But, you enjoy your shiny toy and take whatever the deem you worthy of having.
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Technically, not a problem for Android users who stay in Google's walled garden either. Now, we can debate the merits of walled gardens but the article itself is just trying to gin up business for McAfee and citing running unknown sources as evidence of some malware problem when the issue is the user, not the system, since that is off by default.
It's 2012 - most phones can connect to a mail server over 2G, 3G or wifi.
Why are we still messing around with a 140-character hack that belongs in the 1990s and which requires the recipient to be using a phone?
Just send an e-mail.