New Android phone malware indicates transition to mobile platform attacks

Malware has been an obvious problem on computers since internet use became widespread.  However the problem is now shifting to mobile platforms.  At least two major malware packages, Zitmo (the mobile version of the Zeus banking trojan) and DroidDream, are available on the Android Market disguised as other software.  So how do you tell what's what?

Two suggestions:

1. Don't download any odd apps, check their approval rating before downloading any apps, and always pay attention to what your downloading.
2. Have an antivirus such as Lookout or AVG DroidSecurity on your android device.

As Google finds more malware on the Android market, they remove the packages in question, however it's still quite easy for this malware to end up on your phone anyway, and keep in mind that no solution will protect you 100% of the time.

Read more about Android malware here:
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/2240037695/New-Android-phone-malware-indicates-transition-to-mobile-platform-attacks

Android Security Vulnerability: The May 2011 security scare

Most, if not all Android users are aware of the "gaping" security hole that "99% of Android phones [were] vulnerable to" earlier this year, but do they really know what it was all about?  This security issue that everybody was worrying about, an issue that allowed hackers to impersonate legitimate users on certain websites, was only vulnerable to attack on an open wifi network, required someone with decent knowledge of inner workings of networks to use a packet sniffer such as Wireshark to find authTokens (usually a string of seemingly random numbers and letters Android uses in place of a password over the internet) in network traffic and then send it to the vulnerable site, i.e. Google Calendar, Contacts and/or Gallery to authenticate and gain access illegitimately to the profile of the user in question.

This article contains some information disqualifying some of the claims that news organizations made regarding this issue:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/burnette/the-truth-about-the-latest-google-android-security-scare-updated/2270

Impersonation attacks are not new, there are a decent number of ways one user can impersonate another, for instance the simplest example would be forgetting to log out of your email or checking the "stay signed in" checkbox on a public computer could leave you S.O.L. while another person gets away with your email and all the personal information contained within (which is why I only install Firefox on public computers and set it not to save history or passwords, etc)(note this is a client-side vulnerability).  Another type of impersonation attack involves websites asking for personal information when the site is not secure, this being a server-side vulnerability, which can lead to password theft, or, depending on the site in question, identity theft.  An easy way to tell is if the site in question is secure or not is if it has the padlock in the corner or 'https://' (emphasis on the 's') before the URL, it probably is a secure site.

In this case, it was (mostly) a server-side vulnerability that caused vulnerabilities in the aforementioned apps.  It comes down to an issue in the security of authToken, Google and others recommending developers to always use SSL/TLS encryption (HTTPS) when sending login information, and to try to avoid using authToken, suggesting to use oAuth instead.

More information can be found here:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/android_security_hole_a_problem_for_99_of_users_re.php

The original article from register.co.uk about this topic is located here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/16/android_impersonation_attacks/

Google has already rolled out the fixes to this vulnerability, these fixes do not require user interaction were rolled out globally, and should already be in place protecting peoples information; however, note that there are still ways of getting in, so, just a friendly reminder, keep your information, particularly passwords, in a safe place (or better yet, in your head) and never give them out to anybody; keep your wits about you when it comes to network and internet traffic, and try to stay safe.

Android Security: Six Tips to Protect Your Google Phone

I can never stress enough, whether it's your phone or your computer, any technological device that connects to a network is susceptible to security issues, so it's always a good idea to lock it down and follow guidelines to ensure that you're device is protected at least against the most obvious issues.

This article gives some guidelines on how to secure your device:
http://www.cio.com/article/675129/Android_Security_Six_Tips_to_Protect_Your_Google_Phone

Note: All the steps he's described on that site are great tips, and necessary to securing your android phone (especially antivirus, password, etc...), however, one really stuck out at me, owner information should nearly always be displayed on the lock screen, you never know when this might come in handy, i.e. if you loose your phone, however not all android phones actually have this feature and you may require an additional app to display that information.