
400 Percent Increase In Android Malware - ssclafani
http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/05/10/400-percent-increase-in-android-malware-mobile-security-threats-at-record-high/
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imgabe
Oh, two companies that sell antivirus software are issuing hysterical warnings
about mobile malware. I can't tell if this is an article or advertising copy.

> now would be as good a time as any to choose an antivirus app.

You don't say...

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zfran
Where are the real numbers? going from 1 malware app to 5 is a 400% increase

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SammoJ
Pedantically a 400% increase would be going from 1 malware app to 5. "The
amount of malware is 400% what it used to be" would be 1 to 4.

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zfran
happy now?

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code_duck
I install pretty much nothing on my Android phone any longer. I wouldn't trust
some binaries from a random site on the internet offering software, why trust
the Android Market? On a desktop OS, would you browse through
awesomefreesoftware.example.com and install anything that caught your eye?
No... so, why would I do that on my phone? Google doesn't appear to do any
sort of quality control other than perhaps responding to reports. Clearly
Apple's method, while onerous in many ways, has advantages.

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dpcan
99% of my apps require 0 permissions. I really believe that a lot of my
success comes from this.

I never download anything that requires anything other than the Internet
permission, maybe Location, and sometimes SD Card modifications (though I hate
that one too).

Some of my competitors that are completely free ask for phone identity,
contacts, etc, and yet they are soaring to the tops of the ranks.

People are downloading anything, and not worrying about anything.

Unfortunately, the average user still has the mentality of "So, I have nothing
on here they can get". Which is obviously idiotic as the hacker will use YOUR
phone to do something illegal possibly. I don't know why people don't get
this???????

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epoxyhockey
I don't think the average user knows that they are supposed to pass-up
installing an app if it requests excessive permissions. I had to teach my
friend to specifically look at the permissions requested when installing apps.

"This application requests permission to read phone state and identity." <\--
That sounds so harmless to most people.

If it said "This application requests permission to retrieve your phone number
and your full name and send it over the internet to a 3rd party company", then
they _might_ be inclined to pass up installing the app.

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null_ptr
Incredible. I took a look at the market just now, it's indeed the dodgiest
applications that ask for the most permissions. One that downloads N64 images
asks for phone state and identity.

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andos
I'm here just to cause a 25% increase in the number of comments in this
thread.

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elboru
The best antivirus is the user. You must be conscious on what are you doing
with your smartphone.

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cosgroveb
Ah, blame the user. Nice. Especially in an age when you can viruses from Flash
0-days served up unwittingly by ad networks...

