March 6, 2011 06:19 pm EDT

Google flips Android kill switch, destroys a batch of malicious apps (update)

When 21 rogue apps started siphoning off identifying information from Android phones and installing security holes, Google yanked the lot from Android Market, and called the authorities to boot. But what of the 50,000 copies already downloaded by unwitting users? That's what Google's dealing with this week, by utilizing Android's remote kill switch to delete them over the air. But that's not all, because this time the company isn't just removing offending packages, but also installing new code. The "Android Market Security Tool March 2011" will be remotely added to affected handsets to undo the exploit and keep it from sending your data out, as well as make you wonder just how much remote control Google has over our phones. Yes, we welcome our new Search Engine overlords and all that, so long as they've got our best interests at heart, but there's a certain irony in Google removing a backdoor exploit by using a backdoor of its own -- even one that (in this case) will email you to report what it's done.

Update: TechCrunch says there were 58 malicious apps and 260,000 affected phones in total.

Google flips Android kill switch, destroys a batch of malicious apps (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 13:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original Link: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/06/google-flips-android-kill-switch-destroys-a-batch-of-malicious/

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