By some accounts Google’s Android Market is uploading as many as a thousand new apps per day. That speaks well to the app market’s growing popularity but, as with any popular site these days it seems, it’s also made Android Market a target of malicious hackers spreading malware that could compromise a user’s security and expose personal information.
According to the site Android Police, Google had to scramble this week to pull at least 20 applications from its Android Market that were infected with malware.
“I just randomly stumbled into one of the apps, recognized it and noticed that the publisher wasn’t who it was supposed to be,” explained a post at Android Police.
Android Police updated its report to note that Google moved extremely quickly to pull the offending apps.
But Vikram Thakur, principal security response manager at security provider Symantec, said the incident shines a light on the relatively open process Google uses to allow new apps into Android Market.
Read Enterprise Mobile Today’s report on the Android Market malware incident and what steps you can take to avoid being victimized.