tech.nocr.at » botnet

Android Trojan: Geinimi

Frank — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:01:00 +0000

With more and more people using Android based phones it’s not a surprise that we are starting to see more and more viruses for these devices. The greater the market share the more appealing an OS is to malware and virus writers.

The newest nasty on the block is called Geininmi. Geininimi latches onto Android applications that use portals outside of Google’s Marketplace. It expands the range of said applications permissions and sends the info it collection to parts unknown. Security firm Lookout speculates that it may be trying to build a botnet and with the insane amount of Android phones out there it’s bound to be one massive botnet.

Pay close attention to the permissions that are requested by any application you install. If an app asks for permission to your contact list and it has nothing to do with your contacts you probably shouldn’t install it. As we all know, 90% of people who get infected don’t use common sense to protect themselves. Don’t become one of these victims.

We’ll keep you posted on additions to this story.

Android Trojan: Geinimi originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/30. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Is Your Cell Phone Safe From Hackers?

Frank — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:52:10 +0000

Looks like we are being told to be afraid of hackers again, this time they are going after our cellphones.

Security experts at Georgia Tech are telling us that hackers could soon turn their attention toward creating botnets out of our cellphones. With more and more smartphones making their way into consumers hands and with every generation of phone becoming more powerful it’s a serious possibility.

These botnets could be used to send spam or other malicious attacks. A user could go out searching for ringtones for their phone only to download something with a nasty payload that could take your phone and turn it into a zombie. Now before people start panicking, this is all speculative at this point, but quite possible. Remember that most cell companies have yet to plug the hole in the bluetooth stack that leaves your phone vulnerable to a snarfing attack.

It’s a scary though to have millions of infected phones that are almost always on and just waiting for a command. I wonder what a DDOS attack vie edge or 3g would do.

Is Your Cell Phone Safe From Hackers? originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.