Malware Found On New Vodafone HTC Magic Phone

According to a recent blog post Panda Security researchers have discovered as many as three pieces of malware on a brand new Vodafone HTC Magic with Google’s Android OS.

The discovery was made after a n employee of a software security firm plugged the device into a Windows based PC running Panda Cloud Antivirus. The malware programs were on the phone's 8GB microSD memory card, which mounts as an external drive when plugged into a PC. Panda's Cloud AV instantly detected both an autorun.inf and autorun.exe as malicious. A quick look into the phone quickly revealed it was infected and spreading the infection to any and all PCs that the phone would be plugged into.

Upon further investigation, Panda found that the employee's phone contained three malware programs: a client for the now-defunct Mariposa botnet, the Conficker worm as well as a password stealer for the Lineage game, said Pedro Bustamante, Panda Security's senior research adviser.

It is likely that this is an isolated incident which may have been caused by Vodafone selling a refurbished/returned phone without clearing the old user settings. However at this time nothing has been confirmed and Vodafone says they will be looking into the incident to "make sure that any necessary changes to their security policies are put in place."

Additional Reading:

• H-Online: Researchers show infecting smartphones with malware is relatively easy
• Android App Used In Phishing Attack Steals Bank Login Details
• New Malware Steals Money From Your Cell Phone