HTC Android Phones Found With Malware Pre-Installed 158
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the saving-users-time-and-effort dept.
from the saving-users-time-and-effort dept.
Trailrunner7 writes "Security researchers have found that Vodafone, one of the world's larger wireless providers, is distributing some HTC phones with malware pre-installed on them. The phone, HTC's Magic, runs the Google Android mobile operating system, and is one of the more popular handsets right now. A researcher at Panda Software received one of the handsets recently, and upon attaching it to her PC, found that the phone was pre-loaded with the Mariposa bot client. Mariposa has been in the news of late thanks to some arrests connected to the operation of the botnet."
It's not a bug (Score:5, Funny)
Pre-installed (Score:4, Funny)
Please (Score:5, Funny)
Now THAT's Multitasking! (Score:3, Funny)
Queue the parade of iPhone drummers.
BTW, I wonder if this is one of the patents Apple is suing over
Re:Please (Score:3, Funny)
Apparently you think the Mariposa botnet is a... Linux distro? What are you smoking?
Probably something similar to the (now ex-) QA employees
Re:Now THAT's Multitasking! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It's not a bug (Score:1, Funny)
Wait a minute, I thought Android already had spyware installed...wasn't it called: Google?
Re:Please (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You know Android has hit the big leagues (Score:3, Funny)
The bigger problem is that this is HTC, who also produces the Nexus for Google proper. Even if the attack vector was an employee at the store, it gives people a moment of pause. When was the last time you saw a Blackberry, Palm, Nokia, LG, Windows Mobile, or iPhone distributed with Malware from the store? (Other than anything with vCast)
Re:It's not a bug (Score:5, Funny)
You think THATS bad - I got my HTC phone with Windows Mobile 6.1 Pre Installed!
Re:Patented! (Score:3, Funny)
So, is THIS what Apple was suing HTC over at the International Trade Commission? Does Apple have a patent on preloaded malware on smartphones?
If they do I'm sure Microsoft can claim prior art.
Re:Technically, not installed... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Technically, not installed... (Score:3, Funny)