Jury Still Out On Mobile Adware
By: Robert Lemos, Dark Reading
On Friday, security firm Symantec warned that a baker's dozen of applications available through the Android Marketplace hosted a "bot-like threat" that could leak information.
With an estimated 1 million to 5 million installations, the threat -- dubbed Counterclank by Symantec -- would have been one of the largest outbreaks of mobile malware to date. Yet other security firms disagreed over the details: The affected programs incorporated third-party software that was not malicious but comprised "an aggressive form of ad network," concluded mobile security firm Lookout.
The incident highlights that uncertain gray areas continue to inhabit the space between what is definitely a legitimate mobile application and what is purely malicious.
