Security experts have pointed out at a nasty Android virus sweeping across the country. The Android Zombie is believed to have dusted the banisters of lots of mobile users.
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Mobile insecurity company TrustGo revealed that over half a million devices, predominantly in China, have already been hit by “SMSZombie”. The worst part about all this is that the malware in question is quite hard to remove. While the European Union is being laid low by the other malware to come out of China, SMSZombie exploits vulnerability in the mobile payment system used by China Mobile, which makes it useless to the fraudsters outside of the country.

The security experts admitted that the virus was being spread through Internet forums and has been detected in a few packages on the country’s largest mobile app marketplace – GFan. The malware has also been embedded in a few wallpaper applications, many of which contained provocative titles and nude photos to attract users into downloading and installing them.

When an Android user downloads the application and sets it as the wallpaper for their mobile device, the malware will then ask to install additional files. In case the user agrees, the malware payload is delivered within a file titled “Android System Service”.

The virus tries to get administrator privileges on the mobile device and this step, according to the experts, can’t be cancelled. SMSZombie will then generate unauthorized payments to premium service providers and steal bank card numbers and money transfer receipt information. In the attempt to remain unnoticed, the malware will even delete all payment confirmation SMS receipts from the device.