Over 200 malicious apps on Google Play downloaded millions of times

[DVDR_Dog]

The most common threats the researchers discovered on the official Android app store include:

Joker (38.2%): Info-stealer and SMS message grabber that subscribes victims to premium services
Adware (35.9%): Apps that consume internet bandwidth and battery to load either intrusive foreground ads or invisible ads in the background, generating fraudulent ad impressions
Facestealer (14.7%): Facebook account credential stealers that overlay phishing forms on top of legitimate social media applications
Coper (3.7%): Info-stealer and SMS message interceptor that can also perform keylogging and overlay phishing pages
Loanly Installer (2.3%)
Harly (1.4%): Trojan apps that subscribe victims to premium services
Anatsa (0.9%): Anatsa (or Teabot) is a banking trojan that targets over 650 applications of banks worldwide

Shoot. Users don't worry about the security of their phone or tablet like they do with their laptop and desktops. Hopefully that will change.

 

[DVDR_Dog]

It's my understanding from the community that phones or for that matter anything Android makes a good target. I have been involved with a couple of commercial accounts that either we undergoing or have undergone Denial of Service attacks and guess what? The majority of hits were coming from wireless providers.
Doesn't surprise me, we are so protective or our Windows/OS x boxes yet many of those same users will load up total garbage apps because the look cool. Some providers will provide security scanners for their subscribers yet outside of that will users even seek out basic protection. Avast for example offers some free basic protection that few use.
A comprehensive A/V anti-malware program would consume a great deal of resource and battery, both which are in limited supply. As a result phones and tablets remain a great resource for hackers to exploit. Just be careful when jumping on the latest cool app for your mobile resource.
I never do any banking or store credit card info on any portable I own.