Hackers strike Android with SMS malware

The first SMS Trojan targeting Android phones has been identified and sends messages from victims’ mobiles to premium rate numbers.

This Trojan-SMS gets into Android phones through a specially designed media player app, which includes the standard Android extension .APK, Kaspersky Lab said.

As soon as it is installed on the phone, the malware sends text messages to premium services, with the revenue from this landing in the hands of cybercriminals.

“The IT market research and analysis organization IDC noted that sellers of devices running Android are experiencing the strongest sales growth among smartphone manufacturers,” said Denis Maslennikov, head of the research group. mobile at Kaspersky Lab.

“As a result, we can expect to see a corresponding increase in the amount of malware targeting this platform.”

The security company plans to deploy Kaspersky Mobile Security for Android in early 2011, Maslennikov added, and the Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a has been connected to the anti-virus databases.

A technique similar to this Android attack was seen earlier this year, but targeted the Symbian operating system.

Trend Micro discovered a malicious application running on the S60 platform that sent a message from the user’s device, although it was not known why at the time.

Regarding the new Android Trojan, Trend Micro advanced threat researcher Ivan Macalintal said, “This revenue-generating program is an easy-to-use fruit for cybercriminals.”

“What makes it unique is the use of Android as a targeted platform and, with the increasing popularity and use of Android, we can expect more malicious code to be released in this area. alley, ”he added in a blog post.