Mobile threats

In some Eastern European countries (Russia and Ukraine especially), there are legal loopholes that allow the use of SMS premium rate numbers anonymously. In addition, some Russian mobile operators allow people to transfer money from prepaid SIM cards to bank accounts or credit cards. When combined, these two things allow cyber-crime activity that generate illegal profits. In this issue of Lab Matters webcast, Kaspersky Lab malware researcher Denis Maslennikov discusses this component of mobile security and talks about the ways cyber-criminals are maliciously exploiting prepaid SIM cards and money transfers. Maslennikov also describes the main pillar of the underground economy and ecosystem of his type of fraud.

In this episode of Lab Matters, Kaspesky Lab malware researcher Tim Armstrong joins Ryan Naraine to examine the security posture of the Android mobile operating system. Armstrong looks at strengths and weaknesses of the open-source platform and warns about the risks associated with jailbreaking/rooting Android devices.

Yesterday my colleague Tim Armstrong wrote about the malware outbreak in the Android Market. In short, a number of legal apps were trojanized and uploaded to the Android Market. Let’s take a closer look into one of them.

Malware has arrived on the Android Market. Three developers known as MYOURNET, Kingmall2010, and we20090202 were offering a number of Android apps for free download.

A few days ago, users who frequent some of the Russian websites that distribute software for smartphones and PDAs started complaining that virtually every new CAB file (i.e., Windows Mobile installation archives) contained two ‘extra’ executable files

New version of ZeuS in the Mobile (now also for Windows Mobile) appeared. ZeuS in the Mobile for Blackberry devices has just been discovered.

A new version of the Android Market has just been launched, making it possible for every device owner to remotely install apps to an Android device directly from the browser on a desktop computer.

Ryan Naraine talks to mobile malware researcher Denis Denis Maslennikov about the mobile malware landscape.

The monthly FakePlayer Trojan for Android phones

New Android SMS Trojan (Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.b) now being delivered via SEO techniques

Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a passes itself off as a media player application. The malware sends SMS messages to two premium rate numbers 3353 and 3354, with each message costing approximately $5.

The features of malicious programs for mobile devices continue to expand: the first malicious program for mobile phones has been detected that steals logins and passwords for the Russian-language social networking site VKontakte.

Twitter for iPhone ™ and unexpected malicious results leading to Trojan Banker to steal on-line bank credentials of the victims!

TSince 27 March a new game called 3D Antiterrorist has been cropping up on quite a few international freeware sites offering downloads for Windows Mobile smartphones.

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