The SMobile Global Threat Center (GTC) has released a study of malicious applications that currently exist in the Android Market. This study attempts to identify applications that are available for download that either market themselves as spyware, or have the ability to be used as a spying application against an unaware user. SMobile identifies and categorizes malicious applications that could enable illegal spying based upon the fact that the application lends the ability to hide itself from detection from a user. According to information security managers around the world, spyware represents the greatest threat to intellectual property or proprietary information manipulated on mobile devices. Law enforcement officials have stated that spyware could lead to identity theft, loss of sensitive, personal or financial information, and is often used to illegally track the movements and communications of consumers.

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Android Malware in the Market