Microsoft gives free Windows Phones to Android malware victims; iPhone users unaffected

“Want a free Windows Phone? Well, it turns out that you may be able to get one for free – all you need to do is tell Microsoft about the malware problems you’ve had with Android smartphones,” Graham Cluley blogs for Spohos.

“Ben Rudolph, Microsoft’s Windows Phone ‘evangelist,’ is the brainbox behind the scheme which has adopted the hashtag ‘#droidrage’ on Twitter,” Cluley writes. “Linking followers to current news articles about Android malware, Rudolph says he will give an ‘upgrade’ to a Windows Phone to the ’5 best (worst?)’ stories about being hit by Android malware.”

“I guess it must be kind of thrilling for Microsoft – which has endorsed the “#droidrage’ campaign – to find the malware boot on the other foot for once,” Cluley writes. “Microsoft would be wise not to look too smug at the current focus on Android malware issue though – and using the issue as a promotion for Windows Phone 7 may be shortsighted. Let’s not forget, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: When even Microsoft is proclaiming to be more secure than you, you’ve got a security problem.

Android. “Open” in all the wrong ways.

You know what’s really funny is a lot of these Android settlers are Windows Sufferers, too. You know, the anti-Apple types who nevertheless strive to use the nearest Apple approximation they can find. Now these Apple haters being attacked by their pretend Mac OS vendor over their use of devices loaded with a pretend iPhone OS. What to do, what to do? If you could bake a cake made from the irony here, it’d be multi-layered and very, very sweet.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” and “GetMeOnTop” for the heads up.]

Related articles:
Insecure: Malicious Android apps double in six months – December 14, 2011
Android permissions flaw allows eavesdropping, data theft, location tracking – December 2, 2011
You bank on your pretend iPhone? Are you nuts?! Android malware up 472% since July – November 16, 2011
Android security threats surge with infected ‘Angry Birds’; iPhone and iPad users unaffected – November 15, 2011
Apple’s iOS unaffected by malware as Android exploits surge 76% – August 24, 2011
McAfee: Google’s Android number one in malware – August 23, 2011
Android malware records phone calls; iPhone users unaffected – August 2, 2011
Symantec: Apple iOS offers ‘full protection,’ Google Android ‘little protection’ vs. malware attacks – June 29, 2011
Malware apps spoof Android Market to infect Android phones – June 21, 2011
Google forced to pull several malware-infested apps from Android market – June 8, 2011
Android malware sees explosive growth; even faster than with PCs – April 27, 2011
Virus-laden apps infest Google’s ‘open’ Android platform; iPhone unaffected – March 3, 2011
Security firm warns of new Android trojan that can steal personal information; iPhone unaffected – December 30, 2010
Trojan infects Android smartphones; iPhone unaffected – August 10, 2010
Millions of Android phone users slammed by malicious data theft app – July 29, 2010
Unlike proactive Apple, reactive Google doesn’t block malware from Android app store – June 4, 2010
Malware designed to steal bank information pops up in Google’s Android app store – January 11, 2010

Article source: http://macdailynews.com/2011/12/16/microsoft-gives-free-windows-phones-to-android-malware-victims-iphone-users-unaffected/

View full post on National Cyber Security » Virus/Malware/Worms