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How to remove viruses and malware from an Android phone
Is it really a virus or another type of malware? Let's fix it anyway
Mobile viruses are unheard of, compared to computer viruses, and internet users have long argued over their existence. While your phone can fall prey to malware, it's unlikely that it's a virus. Android phones are more exposed to malware than iPhones because of their open source operating system (OS). Downloading files from anywhere on the internet is a perk, but just this once, Apple users are lucky not to have it.
10 apps with millions of Play Store downloads found stealing Facebook login info
If you've downloaded one of the following, you might want to check your account
Google has a lot of moving parts behind the scenes, trying to keep malware off of the Play Store. But with seven figures of apps posting and updating constantly, even it doesn't have a perfect record. Such is the claim from a security researcher last week, which said they found ten apps with variations on a trojan horse program. The apps are fairly innocuous based on their title and description, but each is designed to scrape a user's phone for Facebook login credentials.
Garmin confirms cyber attack, working on bringing systems back online over the next few days
Services like Garmin Connect, call centers, and even production lines have all been affected
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If you tried to sync your Garmin fitness band or smartwatch to the company's servers over the last few days, you may have noticed that something's awry. After initial reports pointed to a ransomware attack (via ZDNet), Garmin has now publicly confirmed that it's been hit by a cyber attack and that it's working to bring its servers back online over the next few days.
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have identified a family of modular Android malware dubbed "Loapi," which is capable of mining the Monero cryptocurrency, inundating users with advertisements, automatically subscribing the user to paid services, and participating in DDoS attacks, among other functions. The cryptocurrency mining module maintains a load sufficiently high enough to cause physical damage to a test device after two days—the above photo shows a device which overheated to the point the battery bulged.
Computer security is important, even if the computer in question fits in your hand. There should be no doubt about that fact. However, you should be just as wary of security software as any other app. Case in point: there's a slick new app in the Play Store called Virus Shield. It's got a cool look and it's easy to operate. Just press a single button and your virus shield is activated.
You hear a lot of reports about malware and other undesirable third-party apps these days, especially from security researchers (and people who want to sell you something to make you feel safe). It's undeniable that malicious apps are a problem on an open system, but new data from Google indicates that the amount of actual harm being done might be negligible. QZ.com reports on a presentation from Google's Android Security Chief Adrian Ludwig at the Virus Conference in Berlin. He estimates that .001% of Android apps are able to get past Google's defenses.
Kaspersky Researchers Discover Most Advanced Android Malware Yet
A new piece of Android malware has been discovered by security researchers at Kaspersky Labs. That by itself wouldn't be big news, but this Trojan does
A new piece of Android malware has been discovered by security researchers at Kaspersky Labs. That by itself wouldn't be big news, but this Trojan does things no other malicious app has done. It exploits multiple vulnerabilities, blocks uninstall attempts, attempts to gain root access, and can execute a host of remote commands. Backdoor.AndroidOS.Obad.a, as it has been dubbed, is the most sophisticated piece of Android malware ever seen.
Protect Your Device From Everyday Viruses With Bitdefender's New Free Antivirus App [Sponsored Post]
We talked a little bit about Bitdefender's new antivirus offering earlier today in our giveaway post, but now we want to dive a little deeper into the app and explain what makes it good, how it differs from Bitdefender's paid mobile security service, and how it compares to similar antivirus offerings.
We've got an LG Nexus system dump and endless desire to spoil every Googley surprise we can. Today's edition of the Android 4.2 Teardown could be alternatively subtitled "The Super-Serious Security Edition," because we're talking about the sort of stuff that should make your sysadmin jump for joy.
A new app update means a new APK Teardown here at AP. Today's victim is the Google Play Store, which was just freshly updated to 3.9.16. We've got all sorts of stuff to talk about.
Even if you haven't played it before, there's a decent chance you've seen Plague Inc. around the internet. Usually, it involves seeing a screenshot that informs you your mom has killed thousands of people. If you've ever wondered how you—yes, you!—can also create silly-named diseases that annihilate Earth's population with your Android phone, the answer has arrived! Go here, download the game, then spend 15 minutes staring at the screen trying to come up with something clever. Fair warning: "BieberFever" has already been done to death.
As Android has grown from a small hobbyists OS to the mainstream-conquering behemoth it is today, so has the amount of malware directed towards it. A large chunk of the problem comes from malicious apps that make it into the Android Market - often times, duplicates of popular apps with a few strings of code thrown in that allow the app to transmit personal information or hijack the device.
First Malicious IRC Bot For Android Shows Up, Allows The Attacker Full Remote Control Of Your Device
We've seen our fair share of Android malware hit the scene, but the guys over at Kaspersky Labs have stumbled upon something rather alarming: the first IRC bot for Android. For those unaware, an IRC bot is a tool that provides automated function inside of an IRC channel. While very useful in many scenarios, IRC bots are also often used for malicious intent, such as the case at hand. It's worth noting here that, with the way this attack works, remote commands could be sent via any medium - SMS, webserver, etc. The attacker has just chosen IRC as the platform for this exploit.
[Updated: Here Are The 10 Winners!] Nexus New Year's International Ultimate Giveaway: Win One Of Ten (Yes, Ten) Galaxy Nexuses From AVAST And Android Police
Nexus New Year's International Ultimate Giveaway: Win One Of Ten
We know, we told you our holiday giveaway series would feature some of our largest contests to date. And it did - we gave away over a dozen tablets and nearly as many phones to our readers. But we thought we'd start the new year off with our biggest giveaway yet (an international one, to boot) - 10 Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphones, courtesy of our amazingly generous friends at AVAST Software.
What happens when Google's open-source program manager Chris DiBona reads one too many false claims about the nature of open source software? He takes to his soapbox on Google+ to put everyone in check.
Remember DroidDream - one of the worst malware apps that we've seen since Android's inception? Well, it appears that the developer of said malware is back at it again, with a reported 25 infected apps (so far) found in the Android Market. Dubbed DroidDreamLight by the Lookout Security team, this infection is a stripped down version of its predecessor. Make no mistake, though - that doesn't mean it's any less malicious.
With a great plugin comes great responsibility - to avoid malicious Flash files, that is. A zero-day exploit has been discovered in Adobe Flash that affects all Android versions of the software, Adobe announced today.
With all of the recent concern about malware in the Android Market, it may lead one to make the generalization that the Android OS is nothing but a big loser in the mobile security department. It looks like that may be a faulty conclusion, if the results from hacking competition Pwn2Own are any indication. In this year's contest, held at the CanSecWest Security Conference, Android and Windows Phone 7 both survived unscathed, while iOS and Blackberry fell to the hackers.