Just when we thought no harm can be inflicted on the Chinese IT sector, comes a jeopardous virus that has alreadycaused harm to more than 100,000 Android devices and 9 app stores in China itself.
The bug – named ‘MMarketPay.A’ has been uncovered by mobile security company called “TrustGo” and is said to automatically place orders from China’s Mobile app store and download paid apps and video content without the user’s consent or knowledge. These are the 9 third-party apps that have already been corrupted: nDuoa, GFan, AppChina, LIQU, ANFONE, Soft.3g.cn, TalkPhone, 159.com and AZ4SD.
China Mobile Limited is one of the largest wireless providers on the planet and has more than 600 million users. Currently, the majority of mobile malware is found in applications that originate from and attack third-party markets in China and Russia. The main source of Android-specific malware is the cloning, repackaging and modification of popular apps with intentionally malicious code.
The new virus, MMarketPay.A, can circumnavigate the SMS security step and then download content and place those orders, causing the using unknowingly to accumulate bills for things he/she did not genuinely purchase.
Apparently China has been hit with a virus not long ago; back in January a similar bill-racking virus named “MSOJPApps” started to sweep even outside of China.
Even though the new threat has not put its ugly claws into Google Play, yet the very nature of China’s app ecosystem -that holds hundreds and hundreds of highly popular app stores among the Android community- causing the bug to defect a significant number of stores and devices.
Ostensibly, TrustGo recommends that all mobile owners ought to be cautious when downloading content from any app store, as well as of course keeping your device secure with backup apps such as iCloud for iOS and soon to be released G Cloud for Android; the first effortless app made for Android to securely encrypt your precious memories, pictures and documents to a secure cloud location.
So, what do you use to protect your phone? Do let us know and write to us.
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