The latest SMS Trojan, Trojan-SMS-AndroidOS-FakePlayer-B, is now being distributed via Russian-language sites that are offering up video clips. Although it has not yet been spotted on any other sites, it could make it’s way to english based and other sites in the near future. When you visit this site on another mobile platform you receive the desired clip, however, if you are running the Android OS the trojan will download itself (with your unaware consent). This particular method of delivery implies that the people who are running and hosting these sites are in on the scam and it’s not accidental.
Like the similar trojan before it, once installed, your phone will being sending SMS messages to a premium rate number costing $6 a message. This is all done with a background process so infected users will only find out they have been compromised when they receive the bill. As with most trojans, this can be prevented by simply only navigating to sites you trust, as well as paying close attention to the services that an application is seeking permission to access.
The success of the Android Operating System along with it’s growing user base and market share is making it an even more attractive target for trojans like these. As of now there are actually very few malicious applications targeting the mobile platform, however anti-virus experts expect that to change in the coming years as it’s popularity increases.
[Via Information Week]
