Practice Management

Trojan Infects 260,000 Android Devices

The more I see of the Android operating system, the more impressed I become.  Despite the headline of this blog post.

I was going to switch to the iPhone, despite the lack of acceptable business-grade security.  As a touch typist with long manicured nails, I couldn’t wait to start pecking my messages at record speeds.  But the reality of the new screen touch about broke my heart.  Seems that actual finger heat is required to make the keystroke, not just a tap.  Easy with no fingernails.  Impossible with long fingernails. 

Someone suggested that I use the side of my pinkie finger on the screen.  Hey, people look dorky enough just using the thumbs.  I’m not about to raise the bar in the dorkiness department. 

The good news is that it will not be long before my Crackberry addiction will be a thing of the past.  At least that’s the plan.  But the switch won’t allow me to let my guard down when it comes to scumware.  That’s for sure.

Today’s headline from CNet News entitled “‘Trojanized’ version of Google Android security tool found in China“ caught my eye immediately.  You can read the original article, but the bottom line is that last weekend Google released a tool to remotely clean malicious apps off Android phones.  In retaliation, the bad guys cracked the code, infected the tool with malicous code, and put it on the market. 

Ironically, the tool created to help resolve an already-existing problem, ultimately was hacked to create an imitation that made the problem worse.  The tool is now pulled from the market.

The moral is nothing more than a simple reminder to keep your antennae up for anything that doesn’t come off a registered web site.  The fake, infected tool was not on a regulated site.  If your computer or device starts to slow down, check what processes are running, and for goodness sakes, be sure to check for scumware.  Better to spend the time and find no problem, then to have all your keystrokes and valuable stored information on your smartphone or computer become accessible by unknown persons.  

The most meaningful economic motive is to have your device become one more “bot” in a large network, designed to surreptitiously send out millions of emails, SMS texts, images etc on your dime. 

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Full post as published by Law Practice Management on March 16, 2011 (boomark / email).