Android Malware Scare Just Another Marketing Ploy
Earlier this week, reports came out about the latest scary Android malware threat, a being known as “DroidDream.” Let’s just calm down and call it what it is. This is a marketing ploy by the very company that released the report and the reaction to it is even worse. Relax, Google has pulled these apps off the market and even removed it from affected phones. The company that released this information was Lookout, which sells virus protection for Android platform. In the enterprise, this type of issue deserves warranted attention, but shouldn’t be a problem in an organization that has properly managed their mobile security.On the reaction front, well it’s been crazy with people calling for revolution, others calling it “Android Market Nightmare” – attacking the very Market and its nature as the problem. No the problem is the bad guys. And it’s going to increase according to all indications. So yes, malware will be a problem, but this is definitely not a time to go nuts and throw out the whole thing. My reaction to that is this is an open environment and is the center of Android’s Market. The parties calling for a closed Android marketplace are exposing themselves as Apple-ites by raiding the very thing that has made the marketplace successful: openness. JR Raphael over at PC World had a very straight perspective on this:
It’s kind of like another open ecosystem we all use: the Internet. There are tons of programs, good and bad, available for us to download. There’s even (gasp!) porn. Yes, my friends, it’s a big, bad, scary world out there. But the answer isn’t locking it down and having some panel preapprove everything before it gets uploaded. The answer — in both environments — is exercising a little caution and a little common sense.
Indeed JR, common sense being the operating phrase here. Download apps, review, verify, take responsibility for your phone. We don’t have to be like those other guys. I am responsible for my phone, the same way I am responsible if I download a bunch of warez on my PC and wonder why my computer is infected. That zombie action, that “hey you need to nanny my phone and apps”, -well that’s those other guys. Hey Google, really, thanks for taking those apps down, and in the meantime, everyone chill out, I’m on top of my own phone, thanks.
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