You can bet when something becomes popular, some nefarious scumbag is going to exploit it. So it was with Windows, and so it is becoming with the wildly popular Android OS which powers tablets and smartphones — and in a slightly altered form (Chrome OS) laptops and Chromebooks.
The cyber-criminals will exploit whatever is popular. And if you use an iPhone, iPad or other Apple products, you’re not immune. And Linux users who normally gloat about Windows vulnerability, should learn more about Linux. Most Web servers run Unix or Linux, hundreds, if not thousands of these servers are compromised each month. No operating system is immune to malware – it’s just the more popular operating systems that are attacked the most. Windows is number one (still) but Android is moving up fast and will, someday, overtake Windows.
Here’s an article you should read about the malware that can be spread by text:
Mobile malware reported riding on Google messaging service
Mobile botnets are on the rise and cybercriminals are using the Google Cloud Messaging service as a conduit for sending data from command-and-control servers to malware, a new report says.
In its latest IT Threat Evolution report, Kaspersky Lab said the third quarter was“undoubtedly the quarter of mobile botnets,” as cybercriminals tried to improve the ways they manage their networks of infected Android devices.
The latest weapon in criminals’ arsenal is GCM, which enables them to send short messages in the JSON format to instruct malware on Android devices. JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is an open standard format that uses human-readable text to transmit data from a server to Web applications.
These crooks are everywhere, I can’t help but wonder…if this is also a problem for the NSA and THEIR clandestined spying tactics. For example, if the NSA has the ability to infiltrate Google’s GFE and snatch whatever they want, than my paranoid logic says what they snatch could also include any malware that could be included. AND, how long before the cyber criminals have the same infiltrating capability as the NSA?