Spam botnet?

[zuben el genub]

For Android? True or false.

I'm of the opinion if money is to be made, anything is fair game to some.

Spam botnet-for-hire used to deliver Android malware - Network World

 

[ardchoille]

Another very good reason to install apps only from trusted sources and to read the full app permissions before installation.

 

[SiempreTuna]

I'm sure someone's going to try. Of course, unless they're clever enough to only trigger the bot when the phone's using WiFi, I would guess it would get discovered pretty quickly when people found their data usage suddenly jumping.

 

[zuben el genub]

I like to know what's going on. Eventually, it will try to hit everybody and I'd like a good course of action before panic.

I do read the permissions. Good devs will explain why all of a sudden there is network permissions. Colorado Wildflowers just did that. Some people like to upload info from wherever they are, not just by wifi.

 

[Speed Daemon]

I can't say I'm surprised. Something told me to put anti-malware software on my Android devices when I got them. Probably the same thing that told me to keep all addresses (only phone numbers) off of my mobile devices. And now I know why I've been getting so much more spam lately. Somebody here better fess up soon!

 

[zuben el genub]

So far, I've been lucky. I don't game, don't socialize beyond text, don't keep addresses and don't sync contacts. I back them up on the computer. You can read the stuff with notepad. I do search for sports results rather than use a widget and use either Startpage or Ixquick.

I tend to participate in fora much more than a site like Twitter. I do quilt, and even those fora can be annoying. A lot of the old biddies immediately want to know about your kids and family. They refer to their family members as Dear. DH does not mean "Dear Husband" It means Richard Head, which the Vulcan can be. The kid was a PITA at times. What kid isn't?

More than 30 MMORPG companies targeted in ongoing malware attack | Ars Technica

Here's another. Bing's in the hosts file. I won't touch it. So far, my firewall has forbidden it.
Bing Delivers Five Times as Many Malicious Websites as Google

I'd rather have a good firewall on the phone. I tried one once, but the way the checkboxes were listed was too confusing. I'd rather enter or paste a URL.