Android premium SMS caller hidden in porn player

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Users downloading media players for pornographic sites may be getting more than they bargain for, according to Russian security specialists.

Kaspersky has reported a second Trojan hidden in downloadable media players for Russian-based porn sites. The Android app sends covert SMS messages at the cost of around £4 a shot

In August, Kaspersky warned of ‘Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a’ and this new threat is a variant of the same malware, named FakePlayer.b to indicate this relationship.

The infection is a moral tale for modern times as the app’s terms and conditions state SMS messages will be sent, with no mention it is a premium service. However, many of the users appear to ignore the T&C warning.

Like its predecessor, this media player only had local Russian numbers in its armoury and would not connect outside that country. Despite this, it would still try to connect and could affect the performance of a smartphone. It might also be a matter of time before international codes are added to the list.

The problem is very similar to the ‘dialler’ problem which hit PCs in the days of dial-up modems. These were downloaded in innocent-looking applications and would set up calls to premium lines without warning the user.

"Automatically permitting a new application to access every service that it says it needs to, means you could end up with malicious or unwanted applications doing all sorts of things without requesting any additional information," said Denis Maslennikov, mobile research group manager at Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky Lab's experts have predicted more malicious Android apps will emerge in the near future because of the burgeoning popularity of the platform.

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