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A New Instance of Android Malware is Discovered Every 10 Seconds, Say Researchers (9to5google.com)

Posted by msmash on from the story-of-our-lives dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Security firm G Data says that a new piece of Android malware is discovered every 10 seconds. At this rate, the company is predicting that there will be 3,500,000 new malicious Android files by the end of the year. "The threat level for users with smartphones and tablets with an Android operating system remains high. In all, the G DATA security experts expect around 3.5 million new Android malware apps for 2017," they said. The firm said that the risk was heightened by the fact that only a small minority of users are on the latest version of Android.

106 comments

  1. Are we at the point yet by sl3xd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That we can accept as a community that Android has a serious problem that needs solving, and needs to join its competition in the leper colony?

    --
    -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    1. Re:Are we at the point yet by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No.

      Most of the "discovered" malware is in APKs (where's the Appy App Guy?) that is on sources other than the Google Play Store. You have to want to be infected to be infected. Kind a like saying "My google was hacked" during the last few days, when the reality is, you "allowed" it to be installed.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    2. Re:Are we at the point yet by CrashNBrn · · Score: 2

      Except part of the problem is similar to the issue that enabled the gMail/OAuth hack -- the information that you need to make an informed decision is hidden or not available at all. And that issue keeps getting worse as the phone-interface gets minimized and simplified ad-nauseum.

      Further, Android wont even allow you to know who the Author|Dev of a given app is. We are allowed to know the "version" - bonus.

    3. Re:Are we at the point yet by Mordaximus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That we can accept as a community that Android has a serious problem that needs solving, and needs to join its competition in the leper colony?

      Walled gardens aren't a solution to the problem. The piece of the puzzle that keeps the platform you alluded to less vulnerable is that OS updates are available at the same time, for every supported device. While with android (with some notable exceptions) you are at the whim of the telcos AND vendors to get updates, if you ever do. The fractured landscape is the major issue.

    4. Re:Are we at the point yet by sl3xd · · Score: 2

      I must not have been clear: I wasn't advocating for any platform, or walled gardens. I was saying that maybe we should consider Android to be something nobody should use until its security problems are addressed - just like its competition.

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    5. Re: Are we at the point yet by chill · · Score: 1

      Stop thinking Walled Garden and start thinking Gated Community. And yes, that most certainly is a component of the solution. There is a reason gated communities have less crime in real life. Having that extra layer of protection does help, even if you haven't upgraded the alarm, windows, doors, and locks on your own personal house.

      Consider it a compensating control. There is no one Silver Bullet solution, including updates available everywhere at once. It would help, yes. But trying to frame this as an all-or-nothing problem is dooming it to certain failure.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    6. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That is true. However, it is *also* true that the various players in the industry (the software developers as well as the vendors) operated under the belief that they could motivate people to continuously buy a new phone every 2 or 3 years. They were banking on huge profits from profligate spending.

      Most people don't want to burn through that kind of money! Their phone still works, so sticking with it is frugal and wise! But they can't upgrade the android version, because the phone provider won't support upgrades anymore, or the hardware is not compatible with the next major upgrade, and the software provider won't backport the security fixes to the older versions of android.

      So now they must shell out hundreds of dollars just to get a free security patch. Fuck that, it's a raw deal.

      I have gone back to a dumb phone. It has talk, text, calendar, camera, music, calculator etc... and cost me a whopping $20. No security worries. But OMG no Internet! The world is gonna end! I only have access to a desktop or laptop all day at work and all day at home, so I can't use Internet when I am travelling between! What ever will I do???

    7. Re:Are we at the point yet by fermion · · Score: 1

      Android is the new MS Windows. Over a billion users, mostly tech illiterate, makes them an easy target. So it is hard to say how much of this is sheer number of users and how much of this incompetence. In the case of MS, there was clearly so incompetence. The ability to email a MS Office document an take down a computer is clearly negligence. I don't know how many similar issues Android has. The fact that Android phones for the most part are not updated regularly is a significant issue.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    8. Re:Are we at the point yet by pr0fessor · · Score: 4, Informative

      No.

      Google tries to keep malware out of the play store but malware does make it's way into the play store.

      Things like this are constantly popping up... Thinking that only using the google play store is enough is wrong.

      http://www.technewsworld.com/s...

      http://www.zdnet.com/article/c...

    9. Re:Are we at the point yet by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      I get a new phone every two years or so. I don't buy top of the line, Samsung/Apple phones, or from the carrier. My current phone is a OnePlus 3T which is far better than my previous Google Nexus 6P in just about every way I need it to be. The one area that the 6P was better, was the special bands my carrier uses in my area to extend range, which my current phone does not have. But it isn't standard LTE frequencies,and only Tmo has them.

      The phone was about 1/2 price of the top of the line phone, and compares well against it. I can afford a phone every two years, or top of the line one every 4. Now you know.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    10. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of the "discovered" malware is in APKs (where's the Appy App Guy?) that is on sources other than the Google Play Store. You have to want to be infected to be infected. Kind a like saying "My google was hacked" during the last few days, when the reality is, you "allowed" it to be installed.

      Exactly. This is all security theater. Antivirus companies have for years done a lot of fearmongering in order to sell their product, just like home security system vendors have. What they don't tell you is just how irrelevant their products usually are.

      Basically the only way to get malware on Android is doing the equivalent of parking a Lamborghini in a dark corner of a really bad neighborhood. The actual malware infection rate on Android is less than 1% overall (compared to 40% for PC users, and I wouldn't be surprised if IoT is even higher) and even then, it's only that high because a lot of Asian countries have banned Google Play, which means the users pretty much have to rely on pirate app stores.

      Meanwhile, Android users who just stick to Google Play have a 0.15% infection rate, and when malware apps are found by Google's own internal scanning services, they get disabled from your device, so you don't need useless antivirus software.

    11. Re:Are we at the point yet by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      I didn't say it was enough to use just Google Play Store, I said it was the best option. The other option is installing the same apps from untrusted sources, which have surely been compromised rather than the probably more legit ones in the store.

      The best option is only install Apps you actually need, from companies that have been around a while. Most of the Crapware is on Crap apps that don't actually do anything, using permissions sets that should set of all kinds of alarms.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    12. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, blaming the users. The time honored tradition among Linux cheerleaders.

      You nitwits claim how Android is "open" and snicker at Apples walled garden. When we point out the snakes outside the garden, and how the REALITY is that you can't go out of the garden, you people come running to blame the users. Somehow downloading malware on windows is an OS flaw, but with android, its because "thats the price you pay for openness".

      Its funny to see you imbeciles knot yourselves up ..

    13. Re: Are we at the point yet by sl3xd · · Score: 1

      Stop thinking Walled Garden and start thinking Gated Community.

      Could you please expand on what you mean by "gated community" in this context, and how it differs from a "walled garden"?

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    14. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought the "walled garden" was bad and to be avoided at ANY cost.

    15. Re:Are we at the point yet by sl3xd · · Score: 1

      The fact that Android phones for the most part are not updated regularly is a significant issue.

      Not only are they not updated, but they cannot be updated by the user makes many Android devices little better than the legion of IoT devices.

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    16. Re:Are we at the point yet by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

      Kind a like saying "My google was hacked" during the last few days, when the reality is, you "allowed" it to be installed.

      Nope. As long as we maintain that attitude, security will be a dumpster fire. Basically, we've built a system that makes it dead simple for our users to shoot themselves in the foot. You and I might be clever enough to avoid the pitfalls, but it shouldn't take a degree in compsci to use a device safely any more than you should need to be a mechanical engineer to drive a car.

      The haughty "it's not our fault!" POV has to die if we're ever going to fix things. If we design systems that let our users get pwned at the drop of a hat, it's more our fault than theirs.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    17. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't buy a new phone! Everyone stopped making hardware keyboards, except for Blackberry--and theirs are stupid expensive.

    18. Re: Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      'course the only person I ever knew who was car-jacked, was car-jacked from a gated community. Those gates stop people who have cars already, not people who want to steal yours.

    19. Re:Are we at the point yet by Mordaximus · · Score: 1

      I must not have been clear: I wasn't advocating for any platform, or walled gardens. I was saying that maybe we should consider Android to be something nobody should use until its security problems are addressed - just like its competition.

      Or I misread, good point either way.

    20. Re:Are we at the point yet by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Apparently you missed how you actually had to be stupid enough to walk off the paved path and into the swamp to get infected, even with Android.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    21. Re:Are we at the point yet by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Maybe people shouldn't drive until car accidents stop happening.. because there are far more of those in the wild than Android infections.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    22. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, blame the freedom. The perpetual cry of those that long to outsource their capacity for burdensome independent thought at the earliest opportunity.

      I doubt I'll get through to you, or that you'll even read this, but, for the benefit of anyone else who may be staring at your snark, I'll give a counterpoint.

      Here's the news. Walled gardens can be looked at as training wheels. Android can have those training wheels removed in a much better way than an iPhone or Windows (at least, recent generations of Windows, e.g. Windows 10 S). If you want to stick with your training wheels, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But begrudging those who want to be able to do things without their training wheels is fundamentally dangerous, and it threatens (among many, many other things) freedom on the Internet and property rights. Would you like to ask some farmers who own John Deere tractors about that? I bet you'd get an earful, and that's just to start with. Ultimately the companies are trying to own all the computers for all practical purposes, whether you paid for them or not, and when that happens, there's really big trouble.

      Remove the training wheels and you get freedom, but you might get your knees scraped up. That's a trade-off, but that's a trade-off that should be the CHOICE OF THE USER, NOT THE COMPANY, and should not be sold at a premium, nor should it be slowly eradicated. Computers are far too important to us, and too fundamental to virtually all technology, to allow all of them to ultimately be loyal only to the government and large corporations, which is what you get when you allow only software that is authorized by the company to run on a machine. Ultimately, this rather dystopian approach is exactly what Walled Gardens are pointing to in the long term, and possibly the short term once enough viable alternatives have been neutered.

    23. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought the "walled garden" was bad and to be avoided at ANY cost.

      Pretty much, yes. If you value actually owning and controlling your own computer. If someone else (re: the company) gets to say what software you may or may not run on your computer or computer-based device, the company owns it, and dictates what you can and cannot do with it. That's exactly what a Walled Garden results in, and it's dangerous to Internet freedom, privacy, freedom of speech, property rights, and the list just goes on.

      If you want to be able to be protected by the company, that's fine. But there should be a way to exit that garden, decided on BY THE USER and not the company, and not sold at a premium, either. Otherwise, the company owns that device, and just about anything and everything you do with or on it. And that's what the Walled Garden ultimately leads to. It's already begun, with things like Windows 10 S only being able to load apps from the Windows Store, combined with Microsoft forbidding certain kinds of apps already (emulators, as I recall, which have a ton of uses, and probably others as well).

    24. Re: Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could you please expand on what you mean by "gated community" in this context, and how it differs from a "walled garden"?

      It's a euphemism. It ignores the fact that you can actually leave a Gated Community without moving away in real life, yet with a walled garden with perfect security, chances are the only way to get out is to pack up and move away.

      There's a reason that the original term for rooting a phone was "jailbreaking," which is a much more accurate term. The guards may prevent crime (if they care to and the facilities and rules are rigid enough), but good luck doing what you want, where you want to, when you want to. Everything must be pre-approved... just like the software in the walled garden.

    25. Re:Are we at the point yet by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      The market ALWAYS gives consumers what they want! You just have to accept what they sell.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    26. Re:Are we at the point yet by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      It doesn't take a comp sci to understand that you don't go on alternative app stores and start installing knockoff apps where most of the summary is in Russian.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    27. Re:Are we at the point yet by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

      Evidence has shown that this is incorrect. Repeatedly.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    28. Re:Are we at the point yet by swillden · · Score: 1

      Google tries to keep malware out of the play store but malware does make it's way into the play store.

      Not much, not often. 0.15% of devices that only use Google Play have any "potentially harmful apps", which is actually a broader category than "malware".

      And if you have Verified Apps enabled, you'll be warned if you have malware installed.

      See: https://source.android.com/sec...

      The 2016 report will be out soon, I expect.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    29. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I must not have been clear: I wasn't advocating for any platform, or walled gardens. I was saying that maybe we should consider Android to be something nobody should use until its security problems are addressed - just like its competition.

      If you think Android is too insecure to use... you really, really shouldn't use Windows.

    30. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FACT: Today's Windows is SIGNIFICANTLY more secure than Android, which is right now is around the Windows 98 point.

      So please keep your fanboy ignorance to yourself.

    31. Re: Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stop being such a pussy and just plug in a full length fucking hardwired external USB keyboard right into the phone!

      Impress all those around you with your l337 skillz and how fast you can txt again that rivals the world record breaking speed of a 13 year old female serial txting and tweeting kid!

    32. Re:Are we at the point yet by Altrag · · Score: 1

      No, the market will always give consumers the absolute least costly approximation of what they want, for the highest possible price they can possibly suck out of them, and anyone who complains just gets ignored because you have a grand total of 2 or 3 options and they all operate under the same principle.

      Back in the days before cheap mass transportation, the whole "vote with your dollar" idea worked great. Most markets were a couple hundred customers at best, and losing 10 or 20 was a significant hit to your business. Nowadays markets are tens or hundreds of millions of people wide and losing even a few thousand is barely a statistical anomaly.

    33. Re:Are we at the point yet by Altrag · · Score: 1

      And if they went the other way then you'd be bitching that they designed a walled garden and you're not free to do what you want with your device.

      As it stands, you have to go through 2 or 3 steps in order to open your phone up to untrusted apps -- and they warn you a time or two along the way that some software may well be malicious.

      Google does as much as they can to protect you from yourself, but at the end of the day, having the freedom to do whatever you want implies having the freedom to shoot yourself in the foot. Their only other option is to go Apple's route and just remove your freedom completely (and even then, the first thing a lot of people do is jailbreak it in order to remove Apple's restrictions.)

      Or of course you could mean that they should just go ahead and solve the halting problem and other literally impossible tasks in order to magically determine whether any piece of software has malicious intent (including stuff that hasn't been submitted to their store thus disallowing manual human checking.) But I'm gonna go ahead and guess you'll be waiting a long time for that, from any company.

    34. Re:Are we at the point yet by Sark666 · · Score: 1

      It's a huge problem to not be able to get timely updates, or continued support. After a year sometimes you are on your own. Now your device is outdated and you have no recourse to get to the latest version of android.

      Only if your device is supported by a rom. And roms are huge deal to make and support specific hardware.

      Imagine android was a generic rom and you got drivers from the manufacturers. As long as the driver model didn't break, you could use the original drivers on new android roms.

    35. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So using the features you people shout from the rooftops about is stupid. Got it..

    36. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Non-Google app stores are of no use to 99.999% of the population. Yet you people want to force them to deal with the dangers of installing random shit.

      It's like giving all kids access to hard drugs, because that one kid who has cancer, might legitimately require a micro-dose of LSD.

    37. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not even that. The market will always give the consumers what the companies taught the consumers to buy.

    38. Re:Are we at the point yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And THAT is the problem.

      The view that it has to be one way and one way alone.

      I'm the guy who originally posted the bit you're replying to. I don't know if you are the one I replied to with that post or not, but you responded to my post, and I think it's worth addressing, whether or not you ever actually read this.

      Now, first off, I will not disavow that I hold freedom to do what you want with your own property to be sacrosanct. It is one of the most, if not the most, important things about computing. On that precept lies just about everything we depend on for computer systems in one way or another. It determines whether or not our actions with those devices are our own, or merely permitted by another entity, whether our data is our own or under control of another entity, whether our transmissions and communications are our own or censored and dictated by another entity. The list could go on, and one could write books on the subject. This has serious consequences, both short-term and long-term, and both practical and theoretical. The fact that other entities (such as the ISP) are involved and may have, say, censorship abilities, is inconsequential; two wrongs don't make a right, and your computer system, which is what is being discussed, is the end point for you personally and is far more important.

      However, the thing is. If you want training wheels, then I'm FINE with that. A lot of people will want training wheels and they will want them forever. That's fine, in and of itself. I totally get it. What I'm looking for? A switch to remove the training wheels. One that's built-in, does not require a hack or error, and is not patched out, either blatantly or "accidentally."

      This allows your activities on the computer to be fully free, since you always have a way out and always have a way to do what you want with it. Now this carries certain risks - for instance, I could see it being justified that carrying this out means that software technical support goes out the window unless you reset the device fully to default, which probably involves wiping it. And it probably requires a lot of deliberate tasks to be done to make certain that it's very, very, very difficult indeed to do it by accident.

      However, the mere presence of this option on every phone or computer will make sure the keepers of the Garden will keep on their toes to neither be too restrictive nor too overbearing, as it always ensures a way out. Similarly, unless you end up causing some kind of changes to critical portions of the system (which are not necessarily the outcome of simply turning off Walled Garden mode), OS updates should still occur. In fact, I think Google, irony of ironies, actually has something along these lines built into some of their branded phones (I want to say Pixel). Although I don't know if the OS updates after, I do know that it won't suddenly try to wrestle away control from you after you specify you want to root the phone using the built-in procedure (or at least, I'd be very surprised if it did).

      A real way out that's fully supported that does not require a hack or potentially damaging the hardware, and is not sold at a premium. That's what I want, and I suspect it would satisfy the vast majority of people who are up in arms over this. While we value freedom, that doesn't mean you absolutely must ditch the Garden. Just give an exit to it for those who choose to leave it without abandoning the platform entirely, especially since there are so few to choose from.

      Make the Walled Garden a garden. Not a jail with pretty plants.

      But let's take a look at the sources of Android malware. You said it yourself - installing random shit was the term I believe you used. This means either they've found this stuff in the Walled Garden, mitigating its supposed security properties (in particular, with apps that are fake knock-offs of actual, popular apps), or they got it

    39. Re:Are we at the point yet by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Yes because I should be prevented from going to a website I know and installing an APK from it because someone else goes to some Russian site and installs an app in Chinese and gets malware.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    40. Re: Are we at the point yet by chill · · Score: 1

      Android has a toggle switch to allow you to install from sources other than the Play Store. You can also enable Developer Mode just by clicking an icon (repeatedly).

      Unlike Apple, where you're trapped inside unless you break out, Android provides a workable gate that can be opened and closed by the user.

      The simple answer is Google's team has by far and away more resources and experience in vetting app malware than most people. That extra layer of scrutiny is valuable.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  2. Yeah by Kohath · · Score: 1

    Walled gardens sure suck. Having to deal with millions of opportunities to be infected with malware is a small price to pay for ... native code pr0n apps.

    1. Re:Yeah by hyperar · · Score: 1

      Walled gardens sure suck. Having to deal with millions of opportunities to be infected with malware is a small price to pay for ... native code pr0n apps.

      Whenever i read someone saying that they rather have the power to run anything from anywhere i wonder what is it so great that you want to run and isn't on the Play Store?, 99.9% of the apps on the store are bullshit and only a few of them are really worth it, so, what is it that you get outside the Store that's so great?. This isn't a criticism on said philosophy, i really don't care what others do neither why they do it, i just find it curious, like there's something that i'm missing, most apps i download i end up deleting a few minutes later since they're crap

    2. Re:Yeah by Altrag · · Score: 1

      Typically its for apps that are blocked for non-technical reasons. Porn as the GP said (porn is always a big driver of everything digital..) anything that remotely has the scent of piracy attached to it.. things the overlords just don't like because they don't. Etc.

      Hell I bought a Humble Android bundle at one point. You had to enable non-store apps just to install those games for some bizarre reason.. Humble couldn't get Google to give them store codes or something.. I don't know/remember the whole situation but I was definitely surprised that turning off security was a recommended solution from an organization like Humble.

  3. How many people do they employ? by omnichad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They found one instance of polymorphic malware and are using it to pad their numbers and make them look like they're working harder.

    1. Re:How many people do they employ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashvertisement for antivirus company. Microsoft PCs are losing ground. Look you need our antivirus so that your Android phone can run as slow as your Windows 10! These stories get spread by antivirus companies about once a month now. For the most part only people in Russia and China really need to worry about Android malware. Stick to the Google Play store and most of these problems disappear.

  4. keep it up, google.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .. and windows will become a popular phone platform for its better security.

    (o ya, carriers do share the blame for the code fragmentation and piss-poor update distribution of android.. but they don't care because they make money regardless of which platform your phone is based on)

  5. guys, you don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is innovation at its best, with an open market like this that has no regulatory oversight, only the cream of the crop will rise above all the non-performant malware.

  6. Walled gardens demonstrably solve this problem. by Brannon · · Score: 1

    They come with a cost, and maybe for you the cost is too high--but it's absurd to claim that this isn't a solved problem.

    1. Re:Walled gardens demonstrably solve this problem. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe somebody should explain to you what "solved problem" actually means, since it is more than obvious you don't understand the concept.

  7. Instance Panic by PMuse · · Score: 1

    In other news, Minecraft software running on users' devices is estimated to spawn a new instance of ZOMBIE every 10 ticks, projected to total 26 days x 24 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds x 200 ticks x 1 zombie /10 ticks x 1/24 average play time x 100,000,000 copies sold = 187,200,000,000,000 ZOMBIES by the end of the month.

    How can we worry about a few million malware at a time like this?

    --
    "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
    1. Re:Instance Panic by Falos · · Score: 1

      Because Android malware Android danger Android.

      X Xxx Xxxxxxxx xx Android Malware xx Xxxxxxxxxx Xxxxx xx Xxxxxx, xxx xxxxxxxxxx
      Xxxxxxxx xxxx X Xxxx xxxx xxxx x xxx xxxxx xx Android malware xx xxxxxxxxxx every 10 seconds. Xx xxxx xxxx, xxx xxxxxxx xx xxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxx xx 3,500,000 xxx malicious Android files xx xxx xxx xx xxx xxxx. "xxx threat level xxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxx xx Android xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx high. xx xxx, xxx X XXXX xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx 3.5 million xxx Android malware xxxx xxx xxxx," xxxx xxxx. Xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxx Xxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xx xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx x xxxxx xxxxxxxx xx xxxxx xxx xx xxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xx Android.

  8. Does the malware affect all android versions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it works on Able Avocado does it work on Bullemic Butterfly too? Or does the change of version add some things and make other things not work because they require a particular bugged version and set of installations to be there to exploit and chain to higher exploitation levels?

    If so, then it's got to be a fairly singular element of Android that's doing it and patching it or just blocking the hole should be possible, and the only problem is the carriers who locked their phones to that one supported version and won't update because it's a cost of their business and the decision was to make them the sole supplier of updates to lock people in.

    Or those malware products only affect a small share and though there's a widespread malware problem, there's no sufficient penetration to make another world-crashing event as happens with the monoculture of MS Office all too frequently.

    1. Re:Does the malware affect all android versions? by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Android only names their OS after sweet foods. Like "Apple" or "Blackberry."

  9. your post was to a total of 0 people, then. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since the only ones who say that are pretending they're talking about other people saying it.

    Nobody ACTUALLY SAYS IT.

  10. Scare mongering press release by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing to see here, move along ...

  11. Malware, yeah by Artem+S.+Tashkinov · · Score: 1

    The threat level for users with smartphones and tablets with an Android operating system remains high.

    Sigh. Yet another advertisement for a "security" company which most likely sells some "security" related products and/or services.

    The truth is if 1) you don't have "unknown sources" enabled on your Android (it's OFF by default) 2) you update your Android software (it's updated by default) 3) your device receives regular updates, you're almost perfectly safe and you don't need to be running any AV product on your Android.

    1. Re:Malware, yeah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's (3) that's the sticking point. My android phone (Galaxy S4 mini from AT&T) has only received two or three OS minor version updates in its lifetime, and it's still on KitKat 4.4.2. It took Samsung and AT&T *three years* to push that 4.4.2 update.
      There's no hope of my phone ever getting a recent Android version.

  12. Re:The original APK stops it & speeds you up t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Simply would not take security advice from Windows Users

  13. More importantly... by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    How many instances of Android malware goes undiscovered?

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:More importantly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yawn

  14. How does it compare.. by sqorbit · · Score: 1

    How does this compare to Windows, iOS, and others. Are we bashing Android because we can without knowing how often Windows is attacked?. My guess is that Windows equals or exceeds this.

    --
    Sent from my TARDIS
  15. I use my android as a phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Therefore I'm only hacked by the NSA, CIA, and any other government backdoor agency.

  16. To Emperor Google & Darth Whipslash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "You can't win Darth - If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine..." & I think Whipslash/Logan Abbott knows that (he saw what happened when I posted on "AlmostALLAdsBlocked"'s website & when they DELETED that post, I just tossed it RIGHT back in their face in their inability to disprove 17 points of superiority hosts files have over their easily detected & blocked, bloated, inefficient & ineffectual CRIPPLED BY DEFAULT 'souled-out' to advertisers browser addon - it only worked in MY favor!).

    * Think TWICE about using "your usual" boys (unjustifiable 'downmods' to TRY 'hide' my posts - which is ridiculous & effete/ineffective anyhow (most see my posts as they go below the default of the "downmoderation system" here that's EASILY cheated by sockpuppet fake troll accounts etc. that goes on like mad here & everyone knows it, lol!)

    APK

    P.S.=> "Martyr me" & I'll turn it around against you as always... apk

    1. Re:To Emperor Google & Darth Whipslash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No sock puppets needed, most everyone hates you.
      Your constant incessant spamming makes you sound like this retard going after Bruce Schneier.
      The word soup that streams out of you is mostly incomprehensible, seriously learn how to fucking write and develop a cogent thought.
      I guess that is what happens when all you have is full retard mode

  17. Yet, who gets infected? by nevermore94 · · Score: 1

    Despite all of this Android malware that is supposedly in the wild, who actually gets infected by it? Sure, I am computer systems engineer and know better than to do dumb things, but I know many people in lots of different tech and non-tech circles with Android phones and I have never even heard an anecdotal rumor of someone actually getting some kind of malware on their phone. Despite all of the malware clickbait stories, people with modern phones on major carriers that aren't trying to use pirated apks from shady sites seem to be pretty darn safe. Wake me up when there is a major worm outbreak that affects Android 6+ phones on Verizon and AT&T.

    --
    Nevermore.
  18. Re:The original APK stops it & speeds you up t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Go choke down some elephant cock.
    We all know you love it as well as you VB6 For Drunken Lower Primates book.

  19. Re:Obi-Wan Kenobi "It's your father's..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK is living in his fantasy world again. Today he apparently believes he lives in the Star Wars universe but alas believes his shitware actually provides security.

  20. I'll let registered /.ers speak for me then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine. Your software is well written, functional. The Host File Engine performs exactly as promised by mmell

    his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant

    his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg

    I've never tried to belittle (APK's) work, I've flat out said it's good by BronsCon

    take a look at the APK hosts file engine by SuperKendall

    APK is kinda right. I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works by bmo

    I like your host file system by Karmashock

    I find your hosts file admirable by vel-ex-tech

    * My code's liked + recommended & hosted by Malwarebytes' hpHosts!

    APK

    P.S.=> See above & don't speak for "everyone" w/ an UNIDENTIFABLE "ne'er-do-well" anonymous post - you impersonate me too & so much it tells me you WISH you were me (& could manage the above as I do)... apk

    1. Re:I'll let registered /.ers speak for me then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you even know how to read?
      I said most everyone you stupid ignorant fuck. You post the same ~9 ancient quotes day in and day out.
      So there are a grand total of 9 /. accounts that like your software yet there are over a million accounts in existence.
      So it looks like I have math on my side as well as a command of the language.

    2. Re:I'll let registered /.ers speak for me then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one impersonates you.

      We mock you

      You are just suffering from delusions of grandeur

  21. True by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck samsung, i'm still on kitkat!!!1

  22. Re:I'll let security & web pros speak for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    None of which use your shitstain software. Must be hard to have a shitty idea that is trivial to implement and was in use long before you crapped it out. A file aggregator, go do some real work script kiddie.

    APK - must mean no original thinking in some foreign language, or maybe just no thinking.

  23. LMAO - WRONG on 2 counts... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: I know Malwarebytes' hpHosts' admin did audting its code as safe + as do our /. peers https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10575711&cid=54362585/

    * So, where's YOURS that you did before mine that's GUI, multithreaded single .exe file construction that gets good reviews like mine, & especially from our /. peers (registered ones) that ANYONE uses?

    IT'S NOT! However, I'll give you 1 thing you match me on (no bugs in mine to date & "hyper-alloy combat chassis microprocessor controlled" construction here): You do write bug-free code (code w/ ZERO lines from a zero like you has NO bugs, lol - doesn't do a thing either though).

    APK

    P.S.=> It's SO easy to destroy you - by letting you destroy yourself, lol... EAT YOUR WORDS & don't let them choke you as your FOOT IN YOUR MOUTH rams them down your chicken-neck UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous throat - hahahaha... apk

    1. Re:LMAO - WRONG on 2 counts... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And now we have reached full retard level 11.
      Sounds like you wrote an overly complicated steaming pile of shit.
      For what your shit software does it shouldn't need to be multithreaded, have a GUI, or even be an executable it could be accomplished by a simple script.
      Sounds like bloatware to me.
      It must be from all that moose wang that pumped your ass so full of cum your mind has been poisoned.
      Also learn the fucking language

  24. Who uses your ware? LOL - WHAT ware?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: Plus you've got delusions of grandeur speaking for 'most everyone' like an unidentifiable "ne'er-do-well" do nothing like you has any right to? LOL!

    * Get this straight in life: Nobody respects a DO NOTHING like you - why? You haven't done anything that merits it!

    (... & you KNOW it - hence your unidentifiable obviously jealous trolling of my type/my demographic - you hate yourself for being what you are, 'beta', lol!)

    Keep tossing those profanities, lol - keep making my case - it's EASY to get "your kind" to QUAKE in impotent rage (over your impotence in life).

    Math? ONLY 'math' you have is ZERO (from you that's better than my work) - a VERY "non-trivial" zero that shows what you are (zero w/ zero to show for yourself) - a blowhard do nothing talker, nothing more.

    APK

    P.S.=> Truer words were NEVER SPOKEN on /. (especially regarding "your kind" in this life - deluding yourself into thinking you're some 'expert/authority' on ANYTHING (when the truth is your kind hates themselves & wishes they could do what I do, easily))... apk

    1. Re:Who uses your ware? LOL - WHAT ware?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is easy to do what you do. Anyone can shit post. Shit head

  25. The original APK stops it & speeds you up too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-7 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22APK+Hosts+File+Engine%22+and+%22start64%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/

    Ads/script & malware rob speed/security/privacy

    Hosts add speed (via hardcodes/adblocks), security (vs. bad sites/malware/poisoned dns), reliability (vs. dns down), & anonymity (vs. dns requestlogs/trackers).

    Less power/cpu/ram + IO use vs. DNS/routers/addons/antivirus + less security bugs/complexity & faster vs. addons/routers/remote dns!

    Avoids DNSChangers in routers/IP settings & dns redirects (99.999% of ISP DNS != patched vs. it) + lightens DNS load & resolves faster from local system RAM!

    * Via what u NATIVELY have in the IP stack in FASTER kernelmode!

    APK

    P.S. - Safe https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/e01211ca36aa02e923f20adee0a3c4f5d5187dc65bdf1c997b3da3c2b0745425/analysis/1433430542/

  26. Obi-Wan Kenobi "It's your father's..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Light Saber: This is the weapon of the Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon from a more civilized age..." https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10575711&cid=54361023/

    "For over a 1,000 generations the Jedi were the guardians of peace & justice in the old republic - before the 'dark times' (this article) - before the EMPIRE..." Google's EFast (look that up if need be) & OpenSORES crumbling empire of ads & the infection by malscript/malvertising/tracking/slowing it yields...

    (IF anyone understands my "analogy" here? It ought to be the person I replied to w/ my original post - Archangel Michael, meet "The LORD of hosts" (so-to-speak) - since if he lives up to his name?? We're on the same team...)

    APK

    P.S.=> "LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC!" & being faster + safer online using what you already have natively vs. "Bolt on 'MoAr'" stupidity that's inefficient, slower, bloated & full of security issues (remote DNS/Antivirus/browser addons) & it does MORE for FAR less vs. ANY other single "so-called 'competitor'"... apk

  27. That's rich considering this article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "For over a 1,000 generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace & justice in the old republic - before the 'dark times' (this article) before the EMPIRE!" Google's EFast (look that up if need be) & OpenSORES crumbling empire of ads & the infection by malscript/malvertising/tracking/slowing it yields...

    * Since I'm on my "StarWars" kick today to the "Appy apps guy" whom I replied to? I thought that'd fit nicely here above as well!

    APK

    P.S.=> "This is your father's Light Saber: This is the weapon of the Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon from a more civilized age..."-> https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10575711&cid=54363071 ... apk

  28. I'll let security & web pros speak for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oliver Day (SYMANTEC/SECURITYFOCUS) http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/491/ "Accessing the Internet particularly browsing the Web is actually faster. Spybot Search & Destroy offer lists of known malicious servers to add a layer of defense against trojans & other forms of malware"

    OReilly hosts security http://oreilly.com/pub/a/windows/2004/03/30/hosts.html/ & speed http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/excerpt/winxphacks_chap1/index1.html?page=3/

    Steve Gibson on hosts https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-045.htm/

    Aryeh Goretsky/ESET/NOD32: hosts = good security http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7442373&cid=49747129/

    Malwarebytes hpHosts' hosts my work!

    Brocke Wilders of WILDERS' SECURITY & imitation http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/hosts-block.378901/

    APK

    P.S.=> China = imitation/flattery http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/26/boffins_supercharge_the_hosts_file_to_save_users_plagued_by_dns_outages/

  29. Don't need to install dodgy apps to get infected by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are reports of them being compromised via Web pages: https://arstechnica.com/securi...

  30. Quoting Darth Vader: "I see you have..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: "... Reconstructed APK's Light Saber" http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/hosts_file_editor.html/

    * I'd respect "your kind" @ least if you managed what Nebojsa Vucinic Trebinje has there (it's actually GOOD - not QUITE where mine is - FAR slower loading w/ large hosts files & doesn't do hardcoded favorites resolution where you spend most time online for more speed (also security vs. DNS security & tracking fails etc.), but that's only his first++ attempt apparently - not too shabby, about on par w/ hostsman already imo)!

    * Unlike you? He spends his time effectively constructing his own Light Saber - "Light Saber: This is the weapon of the Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon from a more civilized age..." Obi-Wan Kenobi

    APK

    P.S.=> I'll have to write him "Kudos" from the JEDI MASTER (me) on that one (I give credit where it's due) & I have to write you YOU WISH YOU WERE ME (or he above)... apk

    1. Re:Quoting Darth Vader: "I see you have..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now please tell me how you saved the world from the terminator.

      Or about how you blow dead goats

      There is regular stupid and there is APK level of stupid

  31. Re:The original APK stops it & speeds you up t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look more shitposting from a shithead
    Parent blows dead goats and was dropped a lot as a child.

  32. I'm on my 7'th year and never seen any by AbRASiON · · Score: 1

    Nor has anyone I know or help or am related to etc.

    Android has other problems, I think Google should simply pull a full halt on feature development for 3 months solid and have a "quarter of optomisation" period where they damn well try to speed the things up. 3 year old iphones still 'feel' snappier due to clever tricks and better code.

  33. It's a lot easier by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google provides virus-checking but there is less security in Android because developers refuse to use the built-in APIs (in-app payments, cloud file storage) and open a network socket directly. Although that may be more a reflection on Google for failing to provide the functionality needed. For example: Although everyone uses the Calendar API, it is problematic because events more than 30 days old are not synchronized, even if they re-occur.

    This means any app that opens the network and the microphone could easily spy on the user.

  34. Still less than Windows by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    1 malware for 10 seconds means 8640 per day, which is still much lower that Windows' malware feed which was over 50000 malware sample per day in 2010

  35. Last time I saw an article like this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was a Microsoft paid security researcher reporting about Android malware infecting a large percentage of apps (that he installed from his own server). Oddly, I can not find the original article anymore.

  36. You're "only a master of evii Darth" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For your referemce https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq51w34Hg9I/

    APK

    P.S.=> See subject - it's all you are. In the service of the biggest liar of all, all you have is lies (no love among demons, you hate yourself or anyone not like you, as misery loves company - I feel sorry for "you & yours" KHAZAR (that's right I see you - so does everyone else, but you (LePen will win & you Morlocks will push the button, right?))... apk

  37. Bullshit... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: As far as "delusions"? None here - I let others talk, not myself https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10575711&cid=54362585/ & I've actually tracked EVERY time you have posted as myself signing off "APK" libeling me like mad etc. so you know - I've never counted it but I estimate it to be in the 100's... easily.

    * You? Man... You're a demon hiding from the sunlight = you, UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous "ne'er-do-well" troll (I can't hate you. I pity you. I truly honestly do...) - I wonder how one like YOU can live w/ yourself (obviously since you won't stand behind your words (lies), you can't - you won't BE yourself (I think you can't even accept yourself)).

    APK

    P.S.=> You ARE, how you are, thru you own actions (or in your "do nothing case" inaction) - you did it to yourself.... apk

  38. You did reach 11: /.'ers disagree... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine. Your software is well written, functional. The Host File Engine performs exactly as promised by mmell

    his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant

    his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg

    I've never tried to belittle (APK's) work, I've flat out said it's good by BronsCon

    take a look at the APK hosts file engine by SuperKendall

    APK is kinda right. I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works by bmo

    I like your host file system by Karmashock

    I find your hosts file admirable by vel-ex-tech

    * My code's liked + recommended & hosted by Malwarebytes' hpHosts!

    APK

    P.S.=> See subject: Nobody uses scripts except script kiddies & threads helped on what I offer no like program does - local resolution where you spend most time online (speed&security)... apk

  39. Now please show us you've done better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: Then you can talk & also not have to hide as unidentifiable "ne'er-do-well" do-nothing zero you are, lmao!

    APK

    P.S.=> You've got serious issues loser - no questions asked... apk

  40. How'd eating your words taste? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: Here https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10575711&cid=54363289/ & here https://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10575711&cid=54362585/ where my replies there made you eat your words?

    * You had to EAT YOUR WORDS since you stuck your FOOT IN YOUR MOUTH to ram them down your chicken neck throat!

    APK

    P.S.=> How did eating your words taste? A bit like the bitter taste of SELF-defeat (that's the story of your pitiful life, lol) - change your diet: Eating your words != good nutrition (keep it up - you'll die of malnutrition hopefully)... apk

  41. Re:The original APK stops it & speeds you up t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes your off topic trollings are shitposts and you're the shithead projecting your childhood trauma issues.

  42. Re:That's why I stick to iOS devices by peawormsworth · · Score: 1

    I realize your flaming. But I have to say that the opposite is true. The security holes in open source software are usually found only because it is open source. If there are holes in open source, then by definition it means that the original programmers missed it. If it was closed source, then we still would not have these fixes and we would remain vulnerable. And how exactly do the Russians or other boogie men get their holes in the code without it being part of the source code? Because if I was a hacker, I would want my holes in closed source, so the target has no way of knowing it is there.

  43. Malware = Ownership by peawormsworth · · Score: 1

    If you cannot install a virus/malware on your device, then you don't actually own it.