Android mobile device fraud warning.

Date: December 16th, 2009 - Author: University Credit Union

Android mobile device fraud warning. 

It has come to UCU's attention that in the first and second weeks of December 2009 a developer using the Android platform has deployed shells of mobile banking applications to try and gain access to banking customer’s financial information at other financial institutions. This phishing attack has been launched from the Android Marketplace and is impacting over 50 financial institutions worldwide, including those that currently do not offer mobile banking solutions, much less an Android download.

We want to advise you of this potential phishing threat and direct any of our members that have downloaded this application from the Android Marketplace that the Android downloadable provided by Droid09 is NOT an authorized or legitimate downloadable application of UCU or any other institution.   We suggest that you should make us aware if you have downloaded this application for access to your UCU account so that we can change log in password via the institution and outside of your mobile device.

In addition we recommend that you immediately remove the application from your phone and take it into your mobile provider to have the technical team evaluate the phone to make sure the application is completely removed and has not compromised any other applications or records within your phone.

To clarify: the browser-based Mobile Banking solution provided by UCU remains fully secure.  Members using an Android device will still have secure access to their mobile banking via their Android device, using the mobile browser interface.  This downloadable hacking/phishing effort provided by Droid09, represents a transparent attempt to gain access to credit cards and account numbers through the emerging Android platform. We recommend that members with Android devices access their UCU or other bank accounts, or other e-commerce related activity ONLY through the web browser interface, instead of a downloadable application, until the Android platform has been proven secure for financial transactions.

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