Microsoft engineer revealed spam botnet on Android

Microsoft information security expert Terry Zink discovered spam messages sent from mobile devices on the Android platform, which indicates the existence of a botnet from such devices, according to an expert blog entry on the Blogs.msdn.com service. Terry wrote on his blog that he analyzed the spam samples headers containing the signature “sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android ”and tracked their directions to the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe.

I bet that some users of Android devices that send spam downloaded “free” versions of applications to their smartphones instead of paying for them on Google Play, and eventually got more than they expected on their smartphones. In addition, do not exclude the possibility that they have downloaded a fake Yahoo email application from the app store.

And the infected botnet on Android was not detected for the first time. Also in February of this year, malware was discovered that gains access to the file system and makes calls to paid numbers, thereby generating income for its creators. In addition, Symantec also found numerous users who downloaded malware onto their devices from the Google app store.

Just a month ago, Symantec reported that some publishers are distributing infected apps through the Android Market, now renamed Google Play. So no one can provide absolute protection. But, as you know, the aggregate purchase of licensed copies of software, antivirus software and user vigilance will help them to protect themselves from deception as much as possible. So - for free, it is not always good.