According to a report published by the French based telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent, the number of malware-infected Android phones is now about the same as malware-infected Windows on PC. Also, the shocking news is that the growth of Android spyware is very significant that 6 out of 20 Android malwares are spywares!
The AVG mobile security team has recently confirmed the existence of a malware nicknamed 'PowerOffHijack' on Android 5.0 series or older that are very vulnerable to malware attack as normally they don't have anti-virus protection. The malware has infected over 10,000 handsets worldwide, mostly in China where it originated. This kind of android infection has not happened before as the malware works when the phone user thinks she's turned off her phone.
This new malware interferes with the shutdown process and works even when the phone is turned off. The malware is in real action when someone presses the shut-down button. Just like the normal shut-down process of any cell phone, an animation will appear on the screen after releasing the button and the screen will black out after a few seconds.
However, due to the malware interference, the phone will be active and operated by the malware. The infected handset will just continue to function as normal though it's switched off. A user and their friends will be confused to see and receive spam SMSes, phone calls, snapshots, videos etc.
You should be extra cautious when downloading anything from any Chinese appstores, although certainly, not all Chinese appstores contain the spyware.
Before you even start your online browsing, it's always advisable to install anti-virus software as well as to update it for this is going to protect your Android by filtering any links or sources considered as untrusted, although users have the choice whether or not to open the source.
