VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese smart phone users have been told to be more vigilant over the spyware which may attack at any time to steal information and rob users’ money.

A report by Juniper Research released some months ago showed that 80 percent of smart phones in the market have been the “aiming points” of spyware. Meanwhile, the majority of users do not think their mobile devices may be hijacked nor have data stolen.

The report also said that 92 percent of the malware threats have been found on the mobile devices running on Android.

In Vietnam, according to Vu Ngoc Son, Vice President of BKAV, the Vietnamese leading Internet Security Firm, thousands of Vietnamese users see their smart phones infected with the malware that automatically delivers.

The number of Android-based mobile devices is dominant, which means the high percentage of devices infected the malware.

When users install malware in their mobile devices, the malware would automatically send SMS to the added-value service switchboards run by content service providers (CP providers) or sub CP. Users would be charged VND15,000 for every SMS.

As such, users would lose money though they are not warned about the fee. More dangerously, the mobile device users may lose data and personal information.

Buu Dien newspaper has quoted the representative from Kaspersky Lab as saying that the number of malware spread out on Android operation system has reached the 7-year peak (2006-2013).

A report showed that 104,427 new variants of malicious programs running on mobile devices had been discovered by the end of December 2013.

In May 2012, Kaspersky discovered Trojan MS.AndroidOS.Agent.az “raging” in Vietnam under the mask of an erotic website in Vietnamese language.

To date, more than 1,000 variants of the apps have been discovered, while Kaspersky has blocked 1,500 times of the malware installations.

However, Kaspersky has warned that since the app markets boom with high numbers of new apps generated everyday, smart phone users have been facing the increased risks.

If someone accidentally installs malware in their smart phones, he would have to pay a heavy price for this. The spyware would creep into the phone’ operation system to steal data, damage the memory or automatically makes calls or sends messages to added-value service switchboards.

According to Nguyen Xuan Thanh from Vien Thong A, one of the biggest phone distribution chains in Vietnam, the apps that automatically send SMS mostly run on Android, mostly sourced from Appstore JSC “market”. Though the apps have been removed from CH Play, the online app store for Android-based mobile device users), they still have existed on some forums under the mode of “.apk” files.

When asked about the measures to prevent the malware, the representative from Kaspersky Lab said users should think carefully before downloading any apps to their phones; only use the apps that friends or experts say trustworthy, or the apps made by prestigious firms.

The users have also been advised to read carefully the terms of use before clicking “yes.” Especially, it would be better to use the software as a safe solution to protect smart phones.

Buu Dien