Slashdot Mirror
Fake Malware-Filled Super Mario Run Apps Take Advantage of Android Absence (silicon.co.uk)
Mickeycaskill writes: Nintendo's Super Mario Run was downloaded more than 40 million times in the first four days it was available. But an Android version has yet to materialize. An official release is on the way, but cybercriminals are taking advantage of this vacuum by spreading malicious apps masquerading as the real thing. The "Android Marcher trojan" appears as a fake landing page advertising the release of the game, where it can be downloaded onto users' devices. It then targets financial and banking apps and can modify your settings and read your contacts. The popularity of Pokemon GO last year saw similar scams emerge as users waited for the game.
"Fake Malware-Filled Super Mario Run Apps Take" - my brain just exploded trying to understand the title of this story...
Another day, another piece of Android Malware...
This is the default on most devices (except cheap chinese stuff with backdoors)
The only reason it should be on is if you are a developer, or smart enough to use an alternative app store that may not be safe. Others use it to get haked versions of games/apps and whatever herpes comes with that.
Silence is a state of mime.
One reason this type of scam works well (though it is not specifically relevant to the Super Mario case since it is not yet released for Android at all) is the horrendous practice to completely hide apps not available in your region / compatible with your device. This makes any similarly named app show up as the "only option", and will easily fool people.
You know what, Google? If I am looking for an app, I rather you show me that it exists but cannot be installed, rather than have me dig through tons of search results in vain.
Open Materials Database
Holy shit, malware is even fake now.
We need more walled gardens. The space between the walled gardens is starting to resemble Mad Max.
"Thank you for downloading me, Mario, but your Princess is in another download at malware.cybercrime.su."
This sounds like an idiot super villain who invents robots, and, instead of selling them for billions, uses them to rob a bank instead.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I don't know the Android OS at all, but in iOS apps are, for the most part, sandboxed, and could not access other apps unless you had some kind of explicit bridge. I am trying to wrap my mind around how Android could allow malware to basically rape other apps. It might as well be Windows 95.
Buy an iPhone.
Malware on Linux?
I'm shocked! How could you get malware on Linux, you only get malware on Windows.
Trump should get Putin/Wikileaks to look into this...
This is shooting the wrong horse.
Android uses the Linux Kernel. It is not "itself" a real Linux distribution because you can't download the source to every part and compile it yourself. What people typically have as "unlocked/rooted Android phones" are CyanogenMod, not Android. Sure it runs Android, but "Android(TM)" is Google's operating system that uses a Linux Kernel. CyanogenMod, likewise is not a real Linux distribution either.
They qualify as Linux as far as being able to run non-UI services, but the GUI system is rubbish on Android and it's clones, and can not run any desktop Linux software. People have pretty much shown that they care more about bells and whistles, and don't care for heavy or small devices, they want large screens, tiny batteries, and useless front-facing cameras. A "real" hackable Linux smartphone has been tried multiple times, nobody buys them, because nerds underestimate the kind of flexibility that people want in a phone. What people really want is a device they can throw away every 12 months, and don't really don't care about the environment. Ironically Nerds do, because they want that hack-ability and re-usability. So when a Linux-kernel phone reaches the end of it's life (at 18 months) they can just install their own cyanogenmod or something else and tell the original manufacturer to go f themselves and not buy a new phone for several years.
The only reason people "root" their devices is to install and run pirate software. That is it. Forget the casual excuses about "homebrew" or using it as a devkit. So very little "homebrew" exists for any device that has been unlocked that it's become something of a running joke among piracy communities. Sure "copyright law" may allow for this, but that is not what it was designed for. Copyright law was designed to prevent someone from transcribing a song or book and then reselling as it as if they created it. Technology has moved so far and fast from that that the majority of copyright law really needs a do-over whereby:
a) If a product is no longer manufactured, in 10 years, people may clone the product as long as their unique branding is applied with no assertion of compatibility with the brand (eg a "Nintendo" clone becomes "8-bit game arcade".) 50 years after the original product is released, anyone may produce a compatible product incorporating the original brand name (eg "Nintendo-compatible 8-bit game arcade.")
b) If a production (eg music, comics, movies, software) is no longer available to purchase new (eg license has expired, hardware no longer produced,) then anyone who owns an original may make a digital copy (by any means) after 10 years as long as no financial instrument has been exchanged for the copy. 50 years, anyone may make a copy, remaster or remix the production as long as the original source is not obscured or erased, and may treat it as a new product under copyright protection. If two independent people remix the source material, they can not lay a copyright infringement case against each other since the source material has become public domain.
c) Compilations shall be permitted once a title/production is no longer in print as long as the original bitstream is unaltered and unedited. eg one may not produce a "mp3" compilation for sale from a lossy AAC or MP3 compilation. This is to ensure that original (typically live) performances are not undermined by "bootlegs" of the same performance taken with low quality equipment. So video games may not be "ripped/repacked" they must be disc/download images, movies may not be repacked, and audio performances may not be lossy repacked.