5 held over apps that stole smartphone info

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T121030003585.htm

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Oct. 31, 2012

Five people, including the owner of an information technology-related 
company, were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of providing a virus built 
into smartphone applications that stole more than 10 million pieces of 
personal information from users' address books.

The Metropolitan Police Department said about 90,000 people's 
smartphones were infected with a virus lurking in applications they 
downloaded.

According to the MPD, this is the first case established to deal with 
such a large information theft in Japan.

Investigative sources said a man who runs an IT-related company 
allegedly created video applications for Android smartphones containing 
a virus that extracts personal information stored on the phone. In 
collusion with a woman who is the former president of another 
Tokyo-based IT-related firm, the man released the apps on Google Inc.'s 
official store for free in late March. He is suspected to have had the 
malicious apps transmit personal information, including telephone 
numbers and e-mail addresses, to an external server.

[...]


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