Users of Android based smartphones and tablets should continue to be aware of new malware threats that continue to pop up on the Android Market download service. Computerworld reports that two separate reports show that malware has been spotted that can infect Android-based devices, including a new version of a file that caused Android"s owner Google to remove some files from the Android Market earlier this year.
One report comes from Lookout Security which found that four apps on the Android Market contained a variation of the malware known as DroidDream Light. This program "can prompt owners to download other apps from the market, bait users with a malicious URL or even automatically download more apps to the device." Google quickly removed the four infected apps from the Android Market on Friday. Lookout Security said that due in part to Google"s quick actions the number of downloads of the malware from the Android Market was less than 5,000 files.
Earlier this week, another malware threat was discovered by Xuxian Jiang, an assistant professor in computer science at North Carolina State University. His blog site announced that he has discovered a new malware program called HippoSMS. While the malware was only found on illegal Chinese app stores rather than the main Android Market HippoSMS is still pretty nasty. According to the report the program makes an infected smartphone text a "premium" phone number where the revenues are taken in part by the malware"s creators while also hiding its use by the smartphone owner.