More than 1 million Chinese phones infected with malware
Mobile botnet sending out SMS spam.
Over one million mobile phones in China have been infected with malware and are sending out SMS
spam, the Shanghai Daily reports.
Masquerading as an anti-virus application, the malware installs itself on users'
phones and sends SIM card information to hackers who then are able to control the phone, effectively turning it into a
zombie. The mobile botnet is then used to send text messages containing URLs to contacts in
the users' address books. Most of these URLs are pay-per-click advertisements, but some contain links to the malware
itself, which has helped its rapid spread.
An unpleasant side effect of SMS spam is that, unlike email, sending text messages costs money. Even though the prices
of text messages in China is significantly lower than in most Western countries, the average user whose phone is
infected loses 2 yuan (approx. USD 0.30) per day.
More at the Shanghai Daily here.
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11 November 2010
Tags:
china, mobile, spam.
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