Will Holey Handsets Get Caught 'App Napping'?
Steve C. Gold · Engineering & Technology · 2011
Android handset market took a battering in March when an unknown group of hackers took around 50 Android apps, infected them with the DroidDream malware, and then uploaded them online for handset users to download. DroidDream malware is capable of rooting the smartphone, harvesting data, and/or opening a backdoor on the device. The malware also attempts to record IMEI and IMSI numbers, which are used to identify mobile phones, and upload the data to an external website. The Information Security Forum (ISF) suggests that around 260,000 Android handset users were affected by the DroidDream infection. The article discusses how alert people are to the security dangers of the smartphone app.