Google has been tightening its app criteria and fighting back against a second hit of malicious software currently surfacing on its Android Market – with over 20 apps now removed for potentially distributing the another wave of attack from the ‘RuFraud’ malware.
The offending apps would hook naïve downloaders by promising to deliver ad-free Angry Birds as well as horoscopes, wallpapers and free tunes. This was appealing to many but in fact all the apps would do is take payments from the Android users account for sending and receiving unauthorised SMS messages. Many eager app-buyers would overlook the suspect terms and conditions of the download, willingly accept and now have the RuFraud malware attached to their mobile.
Google had recently purged a number of RuFraud carrying apps from its Android Market after bugs popped up in a number of European countries including the UK, France and Italy. The malware hasn’t affected Android owners in the US because their SIM is regulated differently and the coding that RuFraud travels on is automatically blocked. It’s a little too late for that here in the UK and Europe, hence why Google is quickly trying to hammer those moles before they infest.
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