In recent days, fear has swept across the Android universe as reports raised the prospect of malware attacks and full blown security meltdowns impacting mobile device users everywhere.
But that was then. Now, Internet security researchers admit that they may have been mistaken about claims that Android-powered devices were hacked and used to send spam emails.
Google, for starters, denies claims that Android phones have been infected with a spam-generating virus.
“Our analysis suggests that spammers are using infected computers and a fake mobile signature to try to bypass anti-spam mechanisms in the email platform they’re using,” said Google.
From the BBC:
In a follow-up to his original post, [Microsoft engineer Terry Zink] agreed that it was not proven that Android phones had been compromised. He added that it was “entirely possible” that the spammers had faked the message formatting to make it look like it originated on a phone.
If the spam had originated from a botnet made up of Android phones, it would have been the first time such an event had ever occurred.
