Symantec says that a Trojan Horse program aimed at Android users shames its victims by sending a text message to everybody in their address books. The typo-riddled message says:
Hey, just downlaoded a pirated App off the Internet, Walk and Text for Android. Im stupid and cheap, it costed only 1 buck. Don’t steal like I did!
The Internet security company says the malware - which it likens to the Trojan Horses that have long troubled computer users - is being inadvertently downloaded onto Android phones by visitors to "several renowned file sharing websites throughout North America and Asia." Symantec says the program, Android.Walkinwat, is being "presented as a non-existent version (V 1.3.7) of Walk and Text, an application that is available on the Android Market." Symantec warned here today of the risk.
Piracy plagues everyone who creates and wants to sell intellectual property, even if it's just a $1.50 Android app that promises to help people "see what is going on in front of you on the road while walking and typing.... Type and Walk without fear!" But a Symantec spokeswoman called this is the first known example of "digital vigilante justice," or "hacktivism," used to send an anti-piracy message to phone users.
The motives of hackers are often obscure, and this case is no different. Symantec suggests that the moralizing might have a commercial goal - perhaps to undermine the publishers of the actual app, Walk and Text, that it uses as a lure. (Another possibility is that it was meant to help the makers of the legit app, since it's generating loads of publicity. It ends with the message: "We really hope you learned something from this. Check your phone bill; Oh and dont forget to buy the App from the Market.")
I'm not sure if there's any broader meaning here, though the Symantec spokeswoman tried reaching for one, asking: "If everyone we’ve ever talked to was text messaged when we did something bad, would the world be better?"
I don't know the answer, but I'm guessing that might finally be the hack that crashes the whole system.
- May
- April
- March
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- August 2008
- May 2008
- February 2008
- Read Jeff Gelles' recent columns
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
