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Codebreaker

Android malware now on websites

Marc Sanchez May 3, 2012


Until yesterday, we had to worry about malware getting on our PCs through websites and on our phones through rouge apps. Separate but equal suckiness. Lookout Mobile Security points out, however, that it has found a couple websites that will download malware to your Android phones just through regular browsing.

Gizmodo reports: “the number of dangerous sites is still quite low and none of them get much traffic but it does signal the start of a troubling trend.”

Everybody everywhere is saying that mobile is the place to be, so I guess it makes sense that’s the next frontier for hackers too.

The malware being installed is a trojan called NotCompatible, which is automatically downloaded by your phone, if you visit one of these sites. Gizmodo offers some good tips on how NOT to be a victim of this bug:

First, turn off the “Install from unknown sources” [settings] option. With that off, NotCompatible can’t set up shop on your device. Second, get yourself a mobile anti-virus app. Both AVG and Avast have excellent apps (they’re also free). Third, stop dredging the recesses of the Internet on your phone.

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