Attention, Android smartphone owners: There might be an uninvited guest on the other end of the line.
A new Android Trojan is capable of recording phone conversations, according to security researcher Dinesh Venkatesan of CA Technologies.
As is the case with most malware, customers are unaware they are being targeted until it's too late. This particular Trojan finds its way onto Android devices by hiding in a corrupt application, Venkatesan wrote, where it records conversations and stores them on the device's Secure Digital (SD) memory card.
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Of course, cybercriminals wouldn't waste their energy without a payoff, and a characteristic of this Trojan suggests there is.
When the Trojan infects Android phones, "it drops a 'configuration' file that contains key information about the remove server and the parameters," suggesting that the recorded and stored conversations can then be uploaded to a remote server by an attacker, Venkatesan said.
He added, "As it is already widely acknowledged that this year is the year of mobile malware, we advise the smartphone users to be more logical and exercise the basic security principles while surfing and installing any applications."
All Android device users should install and use anti-virus applications, just as they would for a PC. Several, both free and paid, are available in the Android Market.