Android Virus (WOW)

[Genuwine1976]

Thought this was interesting and should be read by the community to keep us ahead of this.....


WARNING WARNING WARNING (WILL ROGERS) WE ARE UNDER ATTACK)



(Reuters) - Two security experts said on Friday they released a tool for attacking smartphones that use Google Inc's Android operating system to persuade manufacturers to fix a bug that lets hackers read a victim's email and text messages.

"It wasn't difficult to build," said Nicholas Percoco, head of Spider Labs, who along with a colleague, released the tool at the Defcon hacker's conference in Las Vegas on Friday.

Percoco said it took about two weeks to build the malicious software that could allow criminals to steal precious information from Android smartphones.

"There are people who are much more motivated to do these things than we are," he added.

The tool is a so-called root kit that, once installed, allows its developer to gain total control of Android devices, which are being activated by consumers at a rate of about 160,000 units per day, according to Google.

"We could be doing what we want to do and there is no clue that we are there," Percoco said.

The test attacks were conducted on HTC Corp's Android-based Legend and Desire phones, but he believed it could be conducted on other Android phones.

The tool was released on a DVD given to conference attendees. Percoco was scheduled to discuss it during a talk on Saturday.

Google and HTC did not immediately return calls for comment.

Some 10,000 hackers and security experts are attending the Defcon conference, the world's largest gathering of its type, where computer geeks mix with federal security officials.

Attendees pay $140 in cash to attend and are not required to provide their names to attend the conference. Law enforcement posts undercover agents in the audience to spot criminals and government officials recruit workers to fight computer crimes and for the Department of Defense.

Organizers of the conference say presenters release tools such as Percoco's root kit to pressure manufacturers to fix bugs.

[Guest]

If you want to read how this works, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] is a link to the PDF. You can also visit [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] page with more of Spider Lab's "papers".

As far as the conference, I think there are more like 500 hackers and 9500+ government agents and wannabe's.

Again with this:

Google and HTC did not immediately return calls for comment.

Why don't they say, "at the time of this articles release, Google/HTC have not made a comment"? This always make me wonder.

Maybe I missed it, but I did not see HOW they infect the device without the user's involvement.

BTW This is not the droid you are looking for, that's CLASSIC!

[ljay67]

dude, that sucks. I had that phone but sold it

[eric303]

lol this is epic, wish i was a hacker. I tried to learn it on the web but wasn't motivated enough lol

[Genuwine1976]

This is a app that they placed n the market and the user installs it and thus far they have control

[Pac3comm1]

I bet it has something to do with that "chmod 0777" which allow apps to gain root access in your device without your knowledge.