The evolution of malware in the Android marketplace

From Symantec:

Darwinism is partly based on the ability for change that increases an individual’s ability to compete and survive. Malware authors are not much different and need to adapt to survive in changing technological landscapes and marketplaces. In a previous blog, we highlighted a free Android remote administration tool (RAT) known as AndroRAT (Android.Dandro) and what was believed to be the first ever malware APK binder. Since then, we have seen imitations and evolutions of such threats in the threat landscape. One such threat that is making waves in underground forums is called Dendroid (Android.Dendoroid), which is also a word meaning something is tree-like or has a branching structure.

Dendroid is a HTTP RAT that is marketed as being transparent to the user and firmware interface, having a sophisticated PHP panel, and an application APK binder package. The APK binder used by Dendroid just so happens to share some links to the author of the original AndroRAT APK binder.

Think about this. The Android malware universe is becoming as sophisticated as, say, the credit card resale black market. This creature is evolving. That’s scary.