The recent rush to clear out the Android market of the bad guys has gotten some publicity. Not only did Google clear out the marketplace, but they brought out their secret trick not many know about. Read on to find out about the quick clean up job happening in the world of Android.
The world seems like it will never be rid of those who want to destroy your computer. They are called hackers, but only in a general sense. The closer term is “cracker” and has not a thing to do with race. It has to do with a penchant for destroying things. That is what someone was trying to do with their Android apps this past week. Twenty one of them were discovered to have the ability to gain root access to Android devices, usually smartphones. Root access means “full control” in digital terms.
If you think you could be a victim, some of the names of the apps are “Falling Ball Dodge”, “Scientific Calculator”, “Dice Roller”, “Funny Paint” and others with a distinct pornographic theme. If you find these on your Android equipped smartphone, does a full restore to be safe. If you happen to have been in the Android marketplace and downloaded apps from a user named “myyournet”, you are 99 percent sure to have been infected and should do a full restore to your Android device to be safe.
The virus that myyournet distributed is now removed from the Android marketplace by Google. It has the ability to do the aforementioned “rooting”, stealing data, and keeping a backdoor open to do more damage. A backdoor is a digital “hole” in software ( such as Android ) that can be exploited and used. In the case with myyournet, he was planning on doing more exploits. The person’s plans were upset by a Reddit user who discovered what was going on. Google then found out about it and stepped in.
Google deleted the offending apps from the marketplace. This of course got rid of the offending virus, but not from the infected smartphones or tablets. This is where the story gets a bit more interesting. Google went to one step further and showed the world that they have their own “backdoor” in Android. Google took control ( remember “rooting” ? ) of the devices that had the offending apps and deleted them from those devices. Who knew that Google was doing what “myyournet” was doing? Without asking permission, the Google backdoor was used to do what appeared to be a valid task. This raises a question.
What else has Google been doing with that backdoor they have in Android? Google demands transparency with its users.
. How much does Google care about your privacy? Did you know they have a “backdoor” in your device that uses Android? Now you do.
They tell the world to “not be evil”.
