Over 50 malicious apps on Google Play infected more than 250,000 Android devices before Google remotely deleted them. Robert Siciliano, a McAfee security expert, says no data was confirmed stolen, but warns that neither Android nor iOS is fully secure. Keep antivirus updated, use strong passwords, and avoid unofficial app sources.
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Well, it's a popular operating system for smartphones in the country, but it could be leaving you vulnerable.
Coming up tonight, which phone is attracting a lot of hackers, a lot of viruses these days, and what you can look out for. Maria and I will be right back.
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Web giant Google announcing a major security breach affecting users of its popular Android smartphones. The company says hackers uploaded more than 50 malicious apps to its Android marketplace. Those apps were downloaded to more than a quarter million smartphones, potentially revealing users' personal information. Joining me from our Beacon Hill studio is Robert Siciliano, who's a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. And Robert, most of these apps that were affected were free Droid apps. How easy is it to infect these apps, and could this happen again?
So the bad guys obviously are getting more and more sophisticated. They're able to access the applications themselves hack them, re-upload them, and then they are— they have the capability of actually recording a person's personal identifying information. As the bad guy gets smarter and smarter, you and I are more and more vulnerable.
Now Google says that no personal information was taken here, only the way that applications were put onto your phone. How was the situation handled between Google and its customers? Was it handled in the right way?
So Google's doing the best they can. They notified their customers of the breach. The media obviously got a hold of it, and what Google does is they have it set in the terms and conditions. They can actually go go into your phone remotely and they can delete those apps. And that's exactly what they're doing. At this point, uh, it's estimated they've deleted more than 50 different applications from users' phones, and then they'll make them aware via an email that this has occurred.
That's incredible. So they're going into the phones. You could be looking at your phone one minute, you have an app, the next minute it's gone.
Gone, just like that.
Or tablet here, right?
Yes, it's— what's happening to all, uh, you know, uh, uh, uh, wireless devices, uh, tablets, uh, smartphones. That have the Android operating system. And the Android operating system is the world's most popular mobile phone operating system on over a third of the phones in the US alone.
Thanks.
The question, what about other iPhones, things like that, smartphones?
The iPhone, for instance, so popular. Is it possible this could happen to people who own those phones?
With technology, there's no such thing as 100% security. There have been breaches in regards to apps in the iPhone, and there will continue to be both for the iPhone and the Android operating system. Android's Marketplace. So really, it's, you know, beware, update your phone's antivirus, engage in, you know, password protecting your phone itself, and make sure that you're not downloading rogue apps from websites other than the Android Marketplace and/or Apple's App Store itself.
What if you get an infected app? What if I go home tonight, I look at my phone, and I've got one? What do I do then?
The best thing to do, really, if you think that you have an infected application, one that's been listed is to go ahead and delete it. The next best thing is to, uh, back up your phone's information and reinstall the operating system. Just flashing the operating system is easy enough to do. Either you do it on your own or call up your carrier, they'll instruct you how to do it. That cleans off any malicious software.
Some good advice.
Always be on the lookout. Robert Siciliano, thanks for joining us.
