Google says Android Market is malware 'Free'

California, Mar 7: Finally, Google broke its silence on malware attack in Android Market. The search engine giant said that it has successfully removed malicious apps from the Android Market.

Google said that its team has been working to delete the malware apps from users devices. The malware apps invaded to the Android Market through the known vulnerabilities. The California based company added that the only information the attackers were able to gather was device-specific IMEI/IMSI, unique codes which are used to identify mobile devices, and the version of Android running on the devices.

The removal of the malware apps was done through Google's remote application removal feature. Google defined it as one of many security controls the Android team can use to help protect users from malicious applications.

After deleting the malware apps, Google suspended the associated developer accounts, and contacted law enforcement about the attack. As a part of security update, the affected devices will receive an email from [email protected].

"You will also receive a notification on your device that "Android Market Security Tool March 2011" has been installed. You may also receive notification(s) on your device that an application has been removed. You are not required to take any action from there; the update will automatically undo the exploit. Within 24 hours of the exploit being undone, you will receive a second email," Google said in its blog post.

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