Researcher Eyes Continued Criminal Focus on Mobile
SC Magazine reports the discovery of new malware that obtains root access to the latest version of Android, is a sign that cybercriminals are keeping pace with the evolution of mobile devices, as noted by a university researcher. Xuxian Jiang, assistant professor at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and his team last week discovered the first malware that uses a root exploit against Android version 2.3. Dubbed GingerMaster after Gingerbread, the codename for 2.3, the trojan is “repackaged” into legitimate applications that attempt to lure downloads in third-party stores, not the official Android Marketplace. Jiang notes by having the ability to elevate to root, or administrator, level, the malware can access all kinds of things it wants on the mobile phone.
