New Android Malware Attacks Phones

Is Android malware may be on your phone. How many black people do you know with a cell or smartphone? Pretty much everyone right? And there are two operating systems that dominate the phone OS market. These are, of course, Apple and Android. If you don’t have an Apple phone you have an Android.

African-Americans need to be aware that the Android phone OS is constantly under attack and the latest malware can do some pretty nasty things to you and your phone.  As a matter of fact 97% of new malware are directed at Android mobile operating systems. Google is not just sitting back and taking this. They have done a great job protecting their software by continuing to release regular updates. So please take advantage of this. Ask yourself this question; when was the last time you updated you Android phone software?

The newest malware threat to Android phones is called a Remote Access Toolkit or RAT. You think your conversations, pictures and other files are safe but guess again. The malware I am talking about is called Dendroid. It has made its way into the U.S. from Asia and an infected phone is a spy in your hand.

Dendroid is designed to hide inside your phone and avoid the Google malware protection system known as Bouncer.

But what can Dendroid do? The creator claims the malware can take pictures and video using the phones camera, steal any picture you have on the phone, record your phone calls and send text messages from your phone. It can also download your browser history and bookmarks. What is in your browser history or bookmarks? Probably your bank website and other financial data.  I would not hesitate to say that the malware could probably steal user names and passwords as you enter them.

Since this malware has been detected it is not expected to do too much damage but it would be wise not be one of the few victims that get got.

The best way to protect yourself is to make sure that your “Unknown Source” system setting is turned off and that you use a good mobile security app. Although I now have an Apple phone I used LookOut on my old Android phone and it worked great. You can also get it on the Google Play Store as well. I use LookOut on my Samsung tablet.