Android Market Malware Possibly Hits 5 Million
Author: Leanne Westphal
on January 29, 2012 - 11:50 PM
According to Symantec the Android
Market is where perhaps millions of app shoppers were fooled into thinking that
13 apps from three publishers were safe, when in fact they were infected with
malware. Symantec has named the
infected android apps as “Android Counterclank”, which include titles such as “Counter
Strike Ground Force” and “Sexy Girls Puzzle”, many of which were still on the
site as of Friday afternoon. "They
don't appear to be real publishers," Kevin Haley, a director with
Symantec's security response team, indicated in an interview. "These
aren't rebundled apps, as we've seen so many times before." Symantec estimated that the infected apps may
affect between1 to 5 million users. "Yes,
this is the largest malware [outbreak] on the Android Market," commented
Haley.
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Symantec: For now disable pcAnywhere
Author: John Duckgeischel
on January 26, 2012 - 8:02 AM
Symantec says that the pcAnywhere product is
vulnerable to the Anonymous hackers group and is taking the unprecedented step
of recommending that product owners unplug or disable the software
while security bug fixes are developed. The pcAnywhere software is popular
with users that want remote access to their desktop computer while they are on
the road. "This is the first time
I have seen a company of Symantec's scale tell their customers to stop using a
shipping product, especially one that many users depend on for remote
access," stated HD Moore, chief technology officer of Rapid7. It seems that source code leaks are a major
source of concern.
First there was a pcAnywhere source code leak in 2006 and then last week
Symantec admitted that its network experienced a breach in 2006 and that a
segment of its source code had been accessed.
"It's certainly a new precedent for a security breach,"
commented Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Security.
"Talk about dirty laundry getting aired."
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