Android-based devices under hacking threat

Owners of mobile phones and tablets using Android technology are under threat from hackers who use malware to lock down their devices until the owners pay a ransom.

Just days after homeowners and businesses were warned to protect their computers from an attack by hackers who had already stolen €75m globally, experts from security firm, ESET Ireland said it had identified the first example of an Android mobile trojan which they had named Android/Simplocker’.

“This malware, after setting foot on an Android device, scans the SD card for certain file types, encrypts them, and demands a ransom in order to decrypt the files,” a spokesman said.