If there are two things that nerds fear the most, it’s the impending zombie apocalypse and the threat of viruses and malware on their smartphones. Well it looks like the latter is one step closer to reality.
Researcher Georgia Weidman developed the Android-based malware in her lab, which is believed to the the first botnet making use of phones. As Technology Review points out, botnets are used to attack other devices and commit cybercrimes, such as spamming and DDOSing. Weidman’s phone-based botnet can even interfere with the phone’s communication functions.
While Weidman says that phones have pretty good security layers now, viruses and malware on smartphones will become an issue in the future. She plans to present her research at the Shmoocon hacking conference next week. [Technology Review]