CEO Tim Cook Talks to USA Today about Apple's Support for the (RED) Programs and other Social Issues
The Chinese Seem Eager to Open Plants in the US instead of Whining like some in Silicon Valley

1 Million Android Dumbphones Worldwide with Lollipop OS or Older have been Infected with Malware

1af 88 xx cover android malware

 

In early August Patently Apple posted a report titled "Malware and Ransomware still a Huge Problem for Android Users." That report noted that hacking attacks targeting Android-based mobile devices were rapidly diversifying these days. For example, mobile security solution provider 360 Security recently announced the damage attributable to mobile ransomware amounted to 95.6 billion won (US$86,707,450.00) worldwide last year and more than 900,000 devices were infected between June 2013 and the first quarter of this year. The report added that the mobile app security company Seworks noted approximately 80% of the applications available on the Google Play store were vulnerable to hacking and 83% of the top 200 free apps were prone to the possibility of decompile-based forgery and falsification." Today, a new report posted by USA Today claims the problem continues.

 

The USA Today report states that "A new variant of a well-known malware program has infected more than one million phones around the world that run older versions of Google's Android operating system, a security firm reported Wednesday.

 

The good news, if there's any, is that due to the 'Gooligan' malware is delivered via apps downloaded from non-approved, third-party app sites, only 1,000 users in the U.S. have been affected.

 

2 graphic gooligan malware

 

The malware campaign, named Gooligan, attacks phones running the Android 4 and 5 operating systems, known as Jelly Bean, KitKat and Lollipop, and according to Check Point Software Technologies can potentially access information from users' other Google accounts." The Android OS breakdown chart for November is noted below to put the OS names into perspective.

 

2af 88 android stats nov 2016

For more on this story see the USA Today report here. You could also check out the report by The Verge. Older Android smartphones don't typically get updated, so the impact is real. For newer versions of Android, the problem is non-existent.

 

The timing of this news is a little suspect. We're now in the midst of the busiest shopping season of the year and Google's spanking new smartphone called Pixel just happens to offer all owners of this smartphone free OS updates for a full three years that will protect them against malware and viruses – a claim that no other Android smartphone vendor can match. Of course you could choose to think it's just coincidental, but I know most of you are smarter than that.

3x google pixel phone

10.1 Bar - NewsAbout Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.

 

 

 

Comments

The comments to this entry are closed.