These are applications that have already been removed in the past because of their harmful functions and are now on the android market in a slightly modified form, the antivirus provider gdata announced in bochum on monday. Google merely declared that it would not comment on individual applications.
According to the gdata report, the programs are simple: one sounds a horn (airhorn), the other turns the smartphone into a flashlight (flashlight). After installation, the applications are able to send personal data such as contacts or the unique IMEI number of the device uncapped to the criminals, gdata reported. The apps are largely identical to harmful programs that google deleted some time ago – apart from the slightly different logo and the insertion of a license agreement describing the functions.
Developers can upload their apps to android market without google checking them. Therefore, several borsartige programs have already come into circulation. However, the company points out that the number of downloads of harmful apps has fallen significantly in the past year. It advises users to look carefully at the requested permissions and ratings before installing programs. Recently, a system called bouncer (tursteher) is supposed to filter out harmful apps.