BANGALORE, INDIA: Google Android malware samples grew 400 per cent from June 2010 to January 2011, states the new Malicious Mobile Threats Report 2010/2011 by Juniper Networks.

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“These findings reflect a perfect storm of users who are either uneducated on or disinterested in security, downloading readily available applications from unknown and unvetted sources in the complete absence of mobile device security solutions,” said Dan Hoffman, chief mobile security evangelist at Juniper Networks.

How it began

Over the years, it has been common practise for malware writers to pirate Symbian and Windows Mobile applications and to then pack malicious code within these applications. However, in December 2010, researchers discovered that a series of Android applications, downloaded from the official Android Market, were being distributed through Chinese third-party application repositories and app stores.

According to the Juniper report, the legitimate applications were unpacked and the malicious code, known as “Geinimi,” was added to as many as 24 different applications.15 The modified applications were then repackaged, appearing as the original application to the casual user. Geinimi infected applications were then posted to Chinese websites used to distribute software and mobile device applications. In many cases, several versions of the pirated applications were available, some malicious and others not.

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More Android Attacks

In the weeks following the Geinimi discovery, researchers uncovered two additional families of malicious applications that followed the same basic approach and dissemination method. Both “ADRD”16 and “PJApps”17 are different families of legitimate applications that were pirated from the Android Market, deconstructed, packed with malicious code, and then repackaged for dissemination in third-party Chinese application stores. Together, ADRD and PJApps represented more than 75 different pirated and “trojanized” applications.

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Attacks against Android continue:

• March 2011: Myournet/DroidDream, the first Android malware available and distributed through Android Market on a large scale, affects 50,000 users.
• Google’s solution, the Android Market Security Tool, was also pirated and turned into malware in China.
• April 2011: Walk-and-Text pirate puts egg on users’ faces.
• April 2011: Research at IU Bloomington results in “Soundminer” proof-of-concept communications interception application.