Malware in Android Market highlights Google's vulnerability

[WorknMan]

If you didn't know there was bad stuff in the Android marketplace, you know it now, so ya'll be careful out there:

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/n...nerability.ars

Thing is, this vulnerability was already patched in newer versions of Froyo, so Google needs to give carriers/vendors a swift kick in the ass to get updates out sooner and stop releasing new phones with older versions of the OS, or they're gonna have a Windows/IE6 type of fiasco on their hands.

[TechMaster]

Wow, that article was... so biased. It had to be written by some Apple Fan. Yes, there is a higher chance of infection because of the open design of Android. That being said Apple is not immune to it as the article seems to imply.

With Freedom comes responsibility. You can protect your self even if your vendor hasn't upgraded your OS by simply installing a free AntiVirus app like Lookout. Combined with a little personal attention to what you are downloading, paying attention to the permissions the app is requesting, checking out the comments posted for the app, and say a little common sense and you should be pretty safe.

The last one is usually were the problems come from. Gen-gimmi doesn't have any common sense and they want nothing to do with taking personal responsibility.

And just to clarify: I'm not saying the carriers/vendors shouldn't be better at releasing the proper OS updates, I am only saying: if they are lazy, it is up to you to do what you can to protect yourself.

[alexjlopez]

I wonder if they removed Angry Birds, considering it also qualifies as "malware".

[lion2]

If you didn't know there was bad stuff in the Android marketplace, you know it now, so ya'll be careful out there:

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/n...nerability.ars

Thing is, this vulnerability was already patched in newer versions of Froyo, so Google needs to give carriers/vendors a swift kick in the ass to get updates out sooner and stop releasing new phones with older versions of the OS, or they're gonna have a Windows/IE6 type of fiasco on their hands.

I always thought that Google should have taken an Apple-like approach when accepting apps into the marketplace. As long as the more adventurous are able to sideload apps without the need to root I see no problem with being very restrictive on whats allowed in the marketplace.

[TechMaster]

I wonder if they removed Angry Birds, considering it also qualifies as "malware".

Alex, Dude, Android version never qualified as malware. It never had more than internet access. I know you were freaked out by that article, but let it go man.

Again, It was only the Apple version and only before Game Center came out. But it proves my point above in that Apple isn't immuned to it, especially when you don't even get to know what permissions the apps have. Lol.
Besides, wasn't there a security breach at Apple market place that released all your information right after the iPad was released. I would be more freaked out about that.

[alexjlopez]

I dwell on it because it was a sneaky underhanded tactic for them to have ever collected that kind of information at all. What was their purpose? They got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and stopped. That doesn't make it okay.

[WorknMan]

But it proves my point above in that Apple isn't immuned to it, especially when you don't even get to know what permissions the apps have. Lol.
Besides, wasn't there a security breach at Apple market place that released all your information right after the iPad was released. I would be more freaked out about that.

I don't recall anything in the app store fucking up your phone to the point that a factory reset was necessary. But hey, maybe that stuff is out there. This is the first time I'd seen it on Android, which is why I posted the warning.

[merman1974]

From my various iThing owning friends, I've heard that lots of them have to regularly reset/reinstall everything on their devices anyway... It just goes to show, there's no-one so annoying as virus writers. Or Justin Bieber. Or people who think they are dragons.

[Shane R. Monroe]

Or people who think they are dragons.

OMG I just spit my drink .... thank you!

[alexjlopez]

Speaking of sustainability, how much longer can Google dodge accountability for the lawlessness that surrounds Android? Forget the free-for-all on privacy, or the way games, movies, and music are pirated via "legally" approved apps in Google's own marketplace. But now Android phones are being used to open IP-based security locks lol? We're getting that much closer to the Terminator kid hooking his Droid up to the nearest ATM for a withdrawal hehe.

I guess if they could never stop crime on PC's they won't be able to here either...I just think it's ballsy that a lot of this stuff, including emulators and rom-library apps are being sold to consumers directly via the marketplace, allowing both devs and Google to profit directly from activity that would be considered illegal anywhere else.

Android app 'Caribou' cracks IP-based Cardkey security locks