New Android Trojan Is Nearly Impossible to Remove

[onehandle]

IT security firm Kaspersky claims it has discovered the "most sophisticated" Android trojan yet. Identified by Kaspersky as "Backdoor.AndroidOS.Obad.a," the mobile menace can send SMS to premium-rate numbers, download other malware and install them on the infected device, as well as send malware to other devices via Bluetooth, and remotely perform commands in the console.

Obad is also extremely well concealed, by means of code obfuscation, and it uses several previously undocumented security holes in the Android operating system to make it very hard to analyze. Once the trojan is executed on a device, it immediately tries to obtain Device Administrator privileges. Then, it becomes a real nightmare.

"One feature of this Trojan is that the malicious application cannot be deleted once it has gained administrator privileges: by exploiting a previously unknown Android vulnerability, the malicious application enjoys extended privileges, but is not listed as an application with Device Administrator privileges," said Kaspersky Lab Expert Roman Unuchek.

Kaspersky representatives said they have already informed Google about the vulnerability in question.

http://mashable.com/2013/06/07/new-android-trojan-downloads-other-malware-and-spreads-via-bluetooth

[frylock]

1. simple way to avoid this. DO NOT install apps you don't need..

if you don't know what an app does, then you don't need it. download apps from reputable developers only. real simple.

[quinnox]

2. oh fuck me, now I gotta watch what apps I download

I was hoping they wouldn't pay attention to Android.

[onehandle]

3. Uh... 99.9% Of New Mobile Malware Targets Android Phones

Android is the new Windows.
______________________

In fact, 99.9% of new mobile malware detected in the first quarter of 2013 is designed to hit Android phones, according to a new report released by online security firm Kaspersky Lab.

The vast majority of those are trojan viruses, a type of virus that, as Mashable reported, is used in many instances (to target Tibetan activists, for example.) SMS trojans, which steal money by sending unauthorized texts to premium rate numbers, are the most common, with 63% of total infections.

Kaspersky researchers reported a boom in all mobile malware, too. In the first three months of 2013 alone, the firm detected as many as half the total number of new malware detected in the entire year of 2012.

http://mashable.com/2013/05/22/new-mobile-malware-targets-android-phones

[DainBramaged]

4. I thought they were lubricated?