Google’s Android mobile OS has finally hit the big time; security firm Kaspersky is reporting that users are being hit with the first trojan for the OS.
Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a is being sent around as an SMS, infecting devices while pretending to be a media player application. Infected users will send out SMS texts without consent.
Android owners who receive the text are prompted to install a small 13kb .APK which then infects the device. The trojan will then begin texting out “premium rate phone numbers,” to other users.
Kapersky is quick to note that so far the Android users in most immediate danger are in Russia, where the criminals behind the trojan can actually start charging money to user’s accounts. However, anyone with a device can get infected.
While FakePlayer is the first Trojan for Android, there have been scattered spywares created for the OS.
Adds Kapersky: “The IT market research and analysis organization IDC has noted that those selling devices running Android are experiencing the highest growth in sales among smartphone manufacturers. As a result, we can expect to see a corresponding rise in the amount of malware targeting that platform.”
Result for: criminals
In 2004, the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN took down the once large ed2K link site ShareConnector, which had aided in finding files (or parts of files) on the eDonkey2000 network with software such as eMule.
The site came back in 2006 but in 2007, the admin Adi was taken to trial and acquitted of any complicity to criminal copyright infringement. After that, the site went down and now remains as a host for eDonkey and other tutorials.
Interestingly today however, Adi added a blog post saying that BREIN is back to appeal the 2007 case, and a court case is upcoming.
Says the post:
Recently, I got a letter from the Department of Justice, stating that they want a re-trial which they desperately lost back in July 24 2007.
I’m really surprised that they want another shot at trying to make us look as criminals. Nobody expected the DoJ to go for an appeal after an embarrassing defeat 2 years ago.
The defendants are to appear proforma on 22 September 2009 in The Hague. On 18 November 2009 the re-trial should take place. Both ShareConnector and Releases4u (dutch ed2k site we are not affiliated with but was hosted on our ISP) including the former ShareConnector host are to appear in court.
This has nothing to do with the recent civil case against BREIN, where I went for an appeal. That appeal should take place within a few months as well.
So this year is really packed with lawsuits for me with hopefully some conclusive results about the legality of eD2k indexing sites in the Netherlands. After the illegal raids by FIOD-ECD who didn’t do any research and blindly followed BREIN back in December 2004, it took years with the criminal court which made so many blunders and now finally this chapter can be closed with the DoJ and civil appeal approaching us.
[More]>>
Result for: criminals
During a speech to Silicon Valley executives at the Tech Museum of Innovation, Attorney General Michael Mukasey warned that the “enormous” profits made from counterfeiting and piracy is flowing into the hands of terrorists and terrorist organizations.
Mukasey added that the “economy and national security of the United States are increasingly threatened by violations involving copyrighted software code, patented inventions and trademarked properties.”
Terrorists are starting to perform more like organized crime and are increasingly using piracy and counterfeiting money to fund their operations, Mukasey says.
The Attorney General also noted that his department was now giving more resources to prosecuting intellectual property crimes, which has led to a 40 percent increase in IP cases since 2005.
“Criminal syndicates, and in some cases even terrorist groups, view IP crime as a lucrative business and see it as a low-risk way to fund other activities,” Mukasey said. “A primary goal of our IP enforcement mission is to show these criminals that they’re wrong.”
