Google removed 21 apps last week that are malicious to the handsets. Reportedly, these apps were able to access device’s IMEI/MSI to find device model and Android version which is illegal. But these apps were already installed on millions of handsets before they got removed from the Android market. Now Google is wiping these apps from the affected handsets with remote app removal feature that they introduced last year.
Google removed these apps and suspended the account associated with the app and are also sending updates to these handsets to undo the changes made by the apps and prevent the attackers to gain access personal information. They are also sending updates of “Android Market Security Tool” to enhances the security.
Google also recommends you to check the list of permissions when installing application from Android Market. They are also working with their partners to fix the security issues to make that these thing does not happen again.
(via Google Mobile Blog, Image via Engadget)
