Washington23 - Breaking News and Updates

Here we go again.. Lookout Mobile Security has identified a handful of new apps on the Android Market said to house the infamous DroidDream malicious code that hit Android Market in the form of 50 apps a few months ago.This time, 26 applications were found thanks to Android developers that noticed their apps being repackaged and uploaded to the Market under a different developer name. These devs quickly notified Lookout Mobile Security who put the apps through their scanning software and identified them as malware. Upon alerting Google, all 26 apps that were known to be infected were successfully removed from the Android Market.The malware found in these apps was known as Droid Dream Light and would steal a user’s IMEI, IMSI and other miscellaneous information regarding a person’s unique Android device. Unsurprisingly, Lookout Mobile Security wants to make sure each and every Android user installs their mobile security app onto their device and regularly scans all apps to ensure user safety.Of course, nothing can beat a little old fashioned common sense when installing anything onto your device. Always make sure to check exactly what permission newly installed apps are requesting BEFORE YOU INSTALL and not after. Although, I’ve also heard that apps don’t necessarily need to display all permissions they require if a developer doesn’t want it to. (Que ominous music now.)I honestly can’t tell you how weary I’ve grown of hearing news like this come from the OS I hold so dear. This will do nothing but hurt the Android eco system and make people who are skittish (like me) paranoid about downloading new apps from the only place they should be 100% safe and secure: The Android Market. And this will, in turn, hurt developers who will take their business to other mobile OS’s. But alas, these are the times we live in.[Via eWeek]

Via: Android Phone Fans