Google Kills 26 Malware Apps From Android Market

Google's Android operating system has become the main target for mobile malware and faced another round of attacks for the second time in three months.

Google has removed 26 apps that contained malicious codes as DroidDream-style attacks are back in the Android market, which may have affected up to 120,000 users.

This weekend, multiple applications available in the official Android Market were found to contain malware that can compromise a significant amount of personal data and they are likely created by the same developers who brought DroidDream to market back in March.

In March, Google had to kill more than 50 infected apps developed by DroidDream.

Now, 26 applications were found to be infected with a stripped down version of DroidDream. At this point, between 30,000 and 120,000 users were believed to have been affected by the latest attacks, Lookout Security said in a recent blog post.

We discovered 24 additional apps repackaged and redistributed with the malicious payload across a total of 5 different developer accounts, the blog post added.

Google has immediately removed the infected apps from the Android market.

Malicious components of the latest DroidDream apps contain code that triggers when the phone receives a text message or a call. It is not dependent on manual launch of the installed application to trigger its behavior.

The broadcast receiver immediately activates the code which contacts remote servers and supplies the IMEI, IMSI, Model, SDK Version and information about installed packages. It appears that the malicious app is also capable of downloading and prompting installation of new packages, though unlike its predecessors it is not capable of doing so without user intervention.

The list of latest infected applications (by developer name) includes:

Magic Photo Studio

Sexy Girls: Hot Japanese

Sexy Legs

HOT Girls 4

Beauty Breasts

Sex Sound

Sex Sound: Japanese

HOT Girls 1

HOT Girls 2

HOT Girls 3

Mango Studio