Infected Androids Run Up Big Texting Bills 279
Hugh Pickens writes "Computerworld reports that a rogue Android app is hijacking smartphones and running up big texting bills to premium rate numbers before the owner knows it. Chinese hackers grabbed a copy of Steamy Windows, a free program, added a backdoor Trojan horse to the app's code, then placed the reworked app on unsanctioned third-party "app stores" where unsuspecting or careless Android smartphones find it, download it and install it."
Re:Oh noes! (Score:5, Interesting)
"Most people don't give a shit about "openness" or being able to install software from any third-party."
Perhaps not, but that is rapidly changing. Even governments are recommending open source and open standards, and those ideas are making it into the mainstream, because their advantages have become too large and obvious to ignore.
Re:Oh noes! (Score:4, Interesting)
Giving the average user control, is like giving them a plane and believing that since they have an autopilot they can land safely.
Apple's walled garden has limited this kind of behavior so far despite having 10's of million of more phones sold.
Well, if you are an "average user", and I presume you are, then I guess you need someone holding your hand in a walled garden.
Personally, I'm NOT an average user. To use your airplane analogy, I'm a pilot who wants the auto-pilot turned off! I demand the ability to do whatever I wish to MY phone and I am fully aware that I am responsible for the consequences. Look, I don't mind a walled garden. All the stuff I install comes from the Android Market exclusively. But within my walled garden, I want to choose the plants that are in there. I want to choose the color of the wall and decide what bricks it's made of. I want to decide if my garden is organic or so full of pesticides that the birds die from flying over it. So, with a simple rooting of my phone, I have my walled garden and the ability to remove/disable all the crapware I don't want on my phone. I'm now fully able to put any GUI I wish on MY phone. I chose the one that came with it, but dammit I MADE THAT CHOICE, not some turtleneck wearing, Hollywood social elite who thinks he knows what I want better than I do.
Re:Oh noes! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:permissions (Score:2, Interesting)
More importantly, they had to give the app permission to send texts. Very few apps need that permission.
But the REAL problem is that Android only asks ONCE, at install time, for whatever permissions it might need. So, instead of them getting an Alert saying "Hey, Hello Kitty Wallpaper Needs Permission To Send Text Messages", when they were just checking their to-do list, they MIGHT be just a LITTLE more suspicious, even if they are a noob.
I am not advocating something that asks every time an app needs to do something other than display text; but asking a non-computer-savvy person to decide on permissions at the very time that he just wants to get his new Shiny, is just asking for trouble. But anyone but the most completely arrogant (a special brand of stupidity) will probably question why their new "cooking" app suddenly wants access to your GPS, when all you did was download and launch it to find out how to cook something for dinner.
You should also be able to change your mind after granting access to a feature/service/database. At least from the Android GUI, I don't believe you can change an apps "permissions" after you decide at install time, amiriite?
Of course, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that iOS offers both of those improvements over Android...
Just sayin'...
Re:That's strange (Score:4, Interesting)