The malware in question “abuses a person’s contact list to try and infect other devices.”

Security vendor Eset’s research was summarized Thursday by PC World, which revealed that the malware, called “Android/Samsapo.A” “can download other malicious files to a phone, steal personal information from a device such as text messages and block phone calls.”

Robert Lipovsky, an Eset malware researcher, says the malware uploads data to a domain that is no more than a week old.

Samsapo spreads by sending text messages from an infected device to other people in the victim’s contact list, a worm-like characteristic that has been used by other mobile malware programs. The text message says “Is this your photo?” in Russian and has a link to an Android application package (.APK) file containing a copy of Samsapo.

“This technique wouldn’t raise an eyebrow on Windows, but is rather novel on Android,” Lipovsky wrote.

As always, it is recommended that Android users avoid downloading apps from third-party platforms and websites that may offer questionable if not outright dangerous or threatening content.

The post New Mobile Malware Targeting Text Messages appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“The report is based on data from the Symantec Global Intelligence Network, which Symantec’s analysts use to identify, analyze, and provide commentary on emerging trends in the dynamic threat landscape,” Symantec’s report reads.

The official and third-party app stores available to Android embody the platform’s gravest security weakness. As the world witnessed last summer, a Remote Administration Tool (RAT) appeared in a number of apps in the Google Play store.

The release of an instant messaging application by a well-known smartphone vendor on the Android platform. Attackers in turn took advantage of the popularity of the new app and released a variety of counterfeit versions bundled with adware. These apps were quickly removed from the Android marketplace, but not before accumulating a large number of downloads.

“The attraction of the mobile environment to attackers is clearly based on the size and growth rate of the user base today,” Symantec says. “Yet it’s also based on the amount of personal information that’s easily attainable once an attacker is on the device. With the right permissions the device’s phone number, GPS coordinates, camera, and other information become readily available.”

To review the complete Mobile Threat Classifications of the past year, check out the graphic below.

The post Symantec: Mobile Malware Continues to Menace Android appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Based on an analysis of more than 200,000 Android apps last month, Marble Security ranked these as the 10 riskiest mobile app categories:

• Communication
• Social media
• News and magazines
• Media and video
• Travel and local
• Productivity
• Business
• Lifestyle
• Music and audio
• Medical

Surprisingly, the lowest risk category was games, followed by app widgets and wallpapers.

“Our research proved that some mobile app categories put companies and consumers at more risk than others,” said Marble Security CTO David Jevans. “Mobile threats are not just about malware. Even seemingly innocent apps can pose data leak risks as they feed information to advertising engines or hackers’ servers, comb through contacts or emails, or exchange documents. Mobile security is a new and rapidly evolving field, and these findings help identify the categories that deserve the most scrutiny.”

The post Communication Mobile Apps Are Among The 'Riskiest' appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Based on the findings of a new report from CAPTCHA-based advertising firm Solve Media, the aforementioned suspicious traffic from mobile devices ballooned 30 percent last year, accounting for 25 percent of all U.S. mobile traffic.

According to a report summary produced Wednesday by TechCrunch, suspicious web traffic across Solve’s network jumped by nearly 40 percent during the last twelve month and now accounts for more than half of all traffic.

“Just because the traffic is suspicious doesn’t mean it has to be a bot,” the report cautions, although Solve says that about 72 percent of the suspicious traffic is “definitely from bots.”

“With U.S. advertising budgets expected to top $182B by 2015, brands and publishers must both commit to adopting fraud prevention measures now,” explains Solve Media’s CEO Ari Jacoby. “Aggressive botnet operators are not only stealing marketers’ hard fought budgets, they’re also creating false results on campaign performance.”

The post Mobile Bot Traffic Growing at Alarming Rate appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to Schmidt, Google’s Android platform is more secure than Apple’s iPhone.

The controversial comment came during a session at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, ZDNet reports.

Gartner analyst David Willis, who is chief of research for mobility and communications and who runs Gartner’s Senior Research Board, said to Schmidt: “If you polled many people in this audience they would say Google Android is not their principal platform […] When you say Android, people say, wait a minute, Android is not secure.” Schmidt didn’t miss a beat, replying, “Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.”

In addition to the infestation of mobile malware that Android has been known to attract like a magnet, most security experts and analysts concede that the iPhone 5S is arguably the safest smartphone in existence, thanks largely in part to its built-in biometric scanner.

While Schmidt is correct that Android is the most widely used operating system in the world, is he really correct about Android being more secure than Apple’s iPhone?

You be the judge. Please weigh in with your two cents below.

The post Google Chair Says Android is ‘More Secure’ Than Apple’s iPhone appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

• Juniper: Low Cost Smartphones Poised for Mobile Dominance

The ultra-premium smartphone market will take a pronounced backseat to the mammoth emergence of the low-cost smartphone industry over the next five years, says a new report from Juniper. The latest projections indicate that an ultra-low cost generation of smartphones will capture large volumes of the emerging markets.

• Google Acquires Flutter

On Wednesday, news emerged that Google has acquired Flutter, a startup that rose to fame for creating a gesture-based music controller for Apple’s iTunes. Fluttered was first to confirm the acquisition on its website, although financial terms weren’t confirmed.

• Mobile Malware Risks Top 1 Million

The team at Trend Micro announced today that its prediction for 2013 has come true. And that’s unfortunate. “With three months to spare before the year ends,” the security software firm said today, “our prediction that mobile threats, specifically malware and high-risk apps reaching the 1 million mark has finally come true.”

• Fiksu Says App Marketing Costs Recently Touched Record Highs

Fiksu has published its latest Fiksu Indexes, which indicate the cost to acquire loyal users. According to the data presented, this cost reached the highest level ever recorded by Fiksu in August. Overall, the Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index increased by six percent in August, or 10 cents, to $1.90 from July’s $1.80. This spike was driven by two main factors.

• Samsung Taps PayPal to Simplify Mobile Payments

Carey Kolaja, VP of Global Product Solutions at PayPal, says Samsung has turned to PayPal to simplify the mobile payments process for its global army of mobile device owners. With that revelation, PayPal is now officially a payment option across the Samsung ecosystem.

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The post MMW: Top Five Stories Of The Week appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

And that’s unfortunate.

“With three months to spare before the year ends,” the security software firm said today, “our prediction that mobile threats, specifically malware and high-risk apps reaching the 1 million mark has finally come true.”

Regrettably, the company’s latest Mobile App Reputation data indicates that there are now 1 million mobile malware (such as premium service abusers) and high-risk apps (apps that aggressively serve ads that lead to dubious sites).

Among the 1 million questionable apps we found, 75% perform outright malicious routines, while 25% exhibits dubious routines, which include adware.

“To keep your devices safe,” Trend Micro warns, “it is important to treat your devices like your PC counterparts specially when it comes to security. Be wary of downloading apps and make sure to read the comments section and developer details.”

The post Mobile Malware Risks Top 1 Million appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

On Wednesday, the company today announced the release of Kaspersky Internet Security for Android.

Dubbed a powerful protection solution for smartphones and tablets running Android, the maker of the new solution maintains that as more consumers access the same Internet on their mobile devices as they do on a PC, the need for quality protection from cyberthreats drastically increases.

According to Kaspersky Lab research, 35,000 different malicious programs for Android emerged in 2012, which was six times larger than what was detected in 2011. Android malware also represents 99 percent of the total number of mobile threats.

In order to encourage a more secure mobile experience for users, Kaspersky Internet Security for Android was built to safeguard smartphones and tablets from all types of malware.

“Using the latest antivirus technologies,” the company says, “it delivers real-time updates via the cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network for fast reaction to new and emerging threats.”

In addition to anti-theft functionality, Kaspersky Internet Security for Android also provides protection for Web browsing by detecting and blocking malicious websites, including phishing sites and fraudulent pages that distribute malicious programs.

To learn more about Kaspersky Internet Security for Android, click here.

The post Can Kaspersky Make Android Safer? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the report’s findings, Google’s platform still accounts for the vast majority of mobile malware.

“Android is the world’s most widely used mobile operating system (OS) and continues to be a primary target for malware attacks due to its market share and open source architecture,” the report reads.

Industry reporting indicates 44 percent of Android users are still using versions 2.3.3 through 2.3.7-known as Gingerbread-which were released in 2011 and have a number of security vulnerabilities that were fixed in later versions. The growing use of mobile devices by federal, state, and local authorities makes it more important than ever to keep mobile OS patched and up-to-date.

While Android accounts for the bulk of mobile malware, the second largest platform for malicious software is Nokia’s retired  Symbian platform, which reportedly contains 19% of all malware threats.

The iOS platform remains a distant third with just 0.7% of malware threats.

To review the report in full and get up to speed on what you can do to reduce your exposure risk, click here.

The post Department of Homeland Security Warns of Android’s Malware Problem appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the alarming findings presented in the report, Android-based malware achieved a 35 percent growth rate not seen since early 2012.

“This rebound was marked by the continued proliferation of SMS-stealing banking malware, fraudulent dating and entertainment apps, weaponized legitimate apps and malicious apps posing as useful tools,” an announcement from the security software maker reveals.

McAfee Labs registered twice as many new ransomware samples in Q2 as in Q1, raising the 2013 ransomware count higher than the total found in all previous periods combined.

The second quarter also saw a 16 percent increase in suspicious URLs, a 50 percent increase in digitally-signed malware samples, and notable events in the cyber-attack and espionage areas, including multiple attacks on the global Bitcoin infrastructure and revelations around the Operation Troy network targeting U.S. and South Korean military assets.

To review more findings from McAfee Labs researchers and learn more about what you can do to minimize your risk of exposure, click here.

The post McAfee Finds Growing Mobile Security Threats appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.