A Microsoft employee has discovered spam emails from compromised Yahoo email account powered by an Android botnet! This is the first time we have seen a spammer take control of a botnet that lives on Android devices.
“All of these message are sent from Android devices. We’ve all heard the rumors, but this is the first time I have seen it – a spammer has control of a botnet that lives on Android devices. These devices login to the user’s Yahoo Mail account and send spam,” Microsoft’s Terry Zink discovered. The spam emails have “Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android” at the bottom of the messages. It is already a known fact that Android has the most malware compared to other mobile platforms such as Apple’s iOS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone. Microsoft’s explanation for these spam Yahoo emails? “I am betting that the users of those phones downloaded some malicious Android app in order to avoid paying for a legitimate version and they got more than they bargained for. Either that or they acquired a rogue Yahoo Mail app,” Terry Zink adds.
Further reading: Android, Google, Microsoft, Security, Yahoo
