Researchers locate Android spying application

Researchers at security firm F-Secure said Tuesday that they have identified another malicious mobile application circulating in the Android Market. The program, called Tap Snake, is disguised as a game but actually is a spying application. According to F-Secure, once installed, the application runs in the background and reports the phone's location every 15 minutes to a remote server. Users are encouraged to install the application on the phone they want to spy on, then download a separate spying tool, known as GPS SPY for $4.99, on their own phone, which will track the victim device if a proper code and email address is entered. Researchers don't expect the applications to stay live for long. An SMS trojan recently was discovered in the Market. — DK