Google has withdrawn around 21 malware-infected apps, which are believed to be exploited by malware writers because of the openness of the Android platform.
Google has confirmed the infected apps contain rootkit malware, a program that sneaks into the root access of a victim’s smartphone and downloads additional code onto the device without the knowledge of the owner. The malware could then send personal details to remote server.
As many as 55 apps on Google’s Android store have been discovered to be infected with the malware named "DroidDream". They have been "suspended" from the store, said the company.
Android Police, a news site on Google’s OS, said the most dangerous aspect of the rootkit malware is its ability to download codes.
It said the malware "steals nearly everything it can: product ID, model, partner, language, country, and userID. But that’s all child’s play; the true pièce de résistance is that it has the ability to download more code. In other words, there’s no way to know what the app does after it’s installed, and the possibilities are nearly endless."
A company blog said the glitch was fixed in the latest upgrade of the OS, but the patch is useless as many users still use the old version.
It said, "We should point out that this vulnerability was patched with Gingerbread, meaning any device running Android 2.3+ should be fine."
"The hole was fixed by Google, but it’s relatively useless since many phones aren’t yet running a version of Android that is protected."
Google removed the apps within minutes of being notified by the Android Police about the attacks. At present Android devices do not run anti-malware security tools.
Recently, several thousands of entire Gmail accounts were wiped out by a bug which the company said was a result of a software update.
