More people use the Android platform on their smartphones than any other. Therefore, malware that is introduced into the Android platform has the ability to do some big damage because of the amount of people it can infect. A new form of malware that has been called Agent Smith is now infecting Android devices in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Agent Smith name was taken from the name of the villain in the popular science fiction movie “The Matrix.” The malware will target real apps and replace them with apps that look the same. The only difference is that the malware apps show many ads to the user.
The ads that are part of the malware make money for the criminals who developed it. It has been determined that the group responsible for the malware work for a company in China. The company provides various services to Android owners. However, they also have a dark side that develops malware that has infected as many as 25 million Android devices so far. It is not known if the malware will eventually start to infect Android devices in the United States. There have been no reported cases as of yet. However, some experts think that it is just a matter of time.
According to phys.org, there is evidence that suggests the hackers who developed the Agent Smith malware are now trying to target the Google Play Store. This is the official store for Android apps. If the hackers are able to successfully penetrate the defenses of the Google Play Store, the results could be disastrous for Android users around the world. Google is very aware of the situation. They have a team set up to develop defensive strategies that will attempt to thwart the Agent Smith malware.
One of the things that makes the new Agent Smith malware such a big problem for Android users is the fact that it is almost impossible to detect until a smartphone has been completely infected. This means that people who use an Android phone need to be very careful about any apps they download until the malware has been totally eradicated. There is no telling when that is going to happen. The malware is considered to be very advanced. It is designed in such a way that it is able to avoid being detected by many systems that are put in place to find malware. Google has their work cut out for them.
