Hacktivist Android Trojan Designed to Fight App Piracy

There's hacking, then there's hacktivism. There's malware, then there's Android Trojans like the latest "threat" discovered by Symantec. Android.Walkinwat is like the Batman of mobile malware-a rogue vigilante seeking justice through means that also skirt legality, but for a good cause.

The purpose of Android.Walkinwat is not to take control of your Android smartphone, compromise your personal data, or steal your bank account information. In fact, if you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear from Android.Walkinwat. But, if you have a habit of downloading pirated Android apps rather than paying for the legitimate version, you might run into this Trojan.

Android. Walkinwat poses as a pirated version of "Walk and Text"-a legitimate Android app. Users who install this version of "Walk and Text", though, are in for a surprise. The Trojan will gather some information from the Android smartphone, then notify the user that they have been caught downloading a pirate version of the app.

As if that is not enough, Android.Walkinwat adds public humiliation by sending an SMS text message to all of the contacts on the smartphone with the text "Hey, just downlaoded a pirated App off Internet, Walk and Text for Android. Im stupid and cheap, it costed only 1 buck. Don't steal it like I did!"

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