Android botnet 'secretly sending SMS to Korea' A massive malicious botnet which sends copies of users' SMS to email addresses believed to have been registered in Korea and China has been uncovered by security researchers. The software, which is being called MisoSMS, infects Android devices by pretending to be a settings app called "Google Vx." Once it is in place it then asks for administrative rights and, if granted, steals the contents of SMS and sends them to a third party. In a post on its blog, security firm FireEye said: "Some SMS-stealing malware sends the contents of users SMS messages by forwarding the messages over SMS to phone numbers under the attacker's control. Others send the stolen SMS messages to a CnC server over TCP connections. This malicious app, by contrast, sends the stolen SMS messages to the attacker's email address over an SMTP connection. MisoSMS is one of the largest mobile botnets that leverages modern botnet techniques and infrastructure. This discovery, coupled with the other discoveries from FireEye, highlights the importance of mobile security and the quickly changing threat landscape. The company claims that many of the email addresses which receive the SMS are being accessed from mainland China and Korea. The company has worked with law enforcement agencies to get the email accounts shut down and says there is no evidence yet of new accounts springing-up in their place. Earlier this year it was revealed that all of the top 100 paid Android apps and 56 per cent of the top 100 paid iOS apps available for download as "cracked" versions have been compromised. The widespread use of cracked apps represents a real danger for both individuals and companies, given the explosion of smartphone and tablet use in the workplace and home, said Arxan.