From The UberReview: Android Malware Attack Hits Five Million Users


Symantec has announced that 13 apps from three developers contain a malicious segment of code called Android.Counterclank. The apps have found there way onto as many as five million phones.

The malware steals user info and runs ads and is reportedly very difficult to remove. On January 16, one user wrote the following review “Deal & Be Millionaire”:

The game is decent … but every time you run this game, a ‘search icon gets added randomly to one of your screens. I keep deleting the icon, but it always reappears. If you tap the icon you get a page that looks suspiciously like the Google search page.

The affected apps, many of which have appeared in the Android Market, are published by iApps7, Ogre Games and redmicapps.

Counter Elite Force
Counter Strike Ground Force
CounterStrike Hit Enemy
Heart Live Wallpaper
Hit Counter Terrorist
Stripper Touch girl
Balloon Game
Deal & Be Millionaire
Wild Man
Pretty women lingerie puzzle
Sexy Girls Photo Game
Sexy Girls Puzzle
Sexy Women Puzzle

If you have downloaded and installed any of the games, there is a pretty simple solution.
1. Make sure you have your address book synced with Gmail.
2. Delete any files related to the malware from your SD card.
3. Install Astro File Manager.
4. Open Astro File Manager and backup applications
5. Restore your phone to its factory settings.
6. Re-install Astro File Manager
7. Browse your SD Card contents and reinstall any of the apps that you need from /mnt/sdcard/backups/apps.

The beauty of Android is that it is really easy to get back to where you were before things went horribly wrong. [Gizmodo]

from The UberReview

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