Sunday, January 02, 2011

New Virus Hits Android Based Cell phones

A virus infecting the Google's Android operating system based mobile phones has recently been seen in China. An US based security experts confirmed that this virus is dangerous and can help a hacker to get access to the personal data of the owner.

Lookout Mobile Security said in a report this week that this Trojan virus affecting mobile phone is named as Geinimi and can send a large amount of private information from the user phone to remote servers across the world.

This firm’s spokesperson has called the virus as "the most sophisticated Android malware we've seen to date. Once the malware is installed on a user's phone, it has the potential to receive commands from a remote server that allow the owner of that server to control the phone. Geinimi's author(s) have raised the sophistication bar significantly over and above previously observed Android malware by employing techniques to obfuscate its activities”

According to Lookout, the real motive behind the creation of this dreaded virus is still undiscovered. The reason can be an "a malicious ad-network to an attempt to create an Android botnet." The company also said that the users who download Android apps from China are the only victim of this virus. This virus infected applications are mainly repackaged versions of games like Monkey Jump 2, Sex Positions, President vs. Aliens, City Defense and Baseball Superstars 2010 which are sold in china.

Lookout Spokesperson also said "It is important to remember that even though there are instances of the games repackaged with the Trojan, the original versions available in the official Google Android Market have not been affected,"

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