New Android malware records conversations

Security have identified new malware that surreptitiously records conversations on Android phones, the company wrote on its official blog, says PCMag.com.

The new threat to devices running Google's Android mobile operating system is an advance on earlier Android Trojans examined by CA Security that unleash payloads which log incoming and outgoing call details and durations in a text file, according to researcher Dinesh Venkatesan.

Venkatesan says the malware only runs after users unwittingly install it onto their Android-based devices, reports Cnet.

To coax users into doing so, the Trojan mimics a standard installation screen for legitimate applications. If users click 'install,' a configuration file is added to the handset with “key information about the remote server and the parameters,” suggesting that the calls can be accessed over the Web by the malware's creator.

TMCnet says Android software seems to be the more vulnerable of the two operating systems, with more worms out there now. Juniper warns that malware attacks could include command and control zombies and botnet participators, devices that are remotely controlled to execute malicious attacks.

“It is already widely acknowledged that this year is the year of mobile malware,” Venkatesan says in a blog post discussing the latest malware discovery. “We advise the smartphone users to be more logical and exercise the basic security principles while surfing and installing any applications.”