Android users are never safe and probably will never be. In the open-source world of Android OS, malware figures are unexpectedly high. If you are an Android user, then you must be knowing about the phishing apps and malwares out there. Recently, a Trojan horse has been discovered on the official Android Market (now called Google Play). Japanese users have been targeted by this malicious app.

The Trojan was included in video-sharing app that delivers trailers of upcoming video games and anime/adult Japanese videos. There were a total of 15 such malicious apps uploaded by two developers, which have been removed from Google Play Store, as reported by McAfee on Friday.

Report concludes that as many as 70,000 unique Android smartphone users have been infected with the malware. These apps display videos from Internet, but at the time of installation it requests for two such permissions that are not associated with the purpose - READ CONTACT DATA and READ PHONE STATE AND IDENTITY. The access permissions make it clear that it is a malware. McAfee identifies it as Android/DougLeaker.

When running the apps, "loading" message is displayed. The app gathers contact data and sends it to specified servers in the background. If the data theft is completed, it sends a request to fetch a video from the Internet. Otherwise, an error is displayed, if the data theft goes unsuccessful.

These 15 apps have been removed from the Google Play Store. But before the removal, the malicious apps were downloaded by more than 70,000 users.

Earlier, as per another report by Sophos, another malware had hit unofficial Android app stores via fake Angry Birds Space game. However, the Google Play Store version is malware-free. The Trojan horse has been identified as Android/KongFu-L.

The findings are quite frightening. We have seen botnets on Windows and Mac OS X, but it looks like that era of Android botnets is also around the corner. At the time of reportng, there is little reason to worry, but malwares on Android are spreading at a frightening pace and seriously needs to be dealt with.

To stay away from Android malwares, just stay away from unofficial markets and illegitimate sources. Also uncheck the unknown sources installation option in your Android phone that can be found in Settings -> Security -> Device administration on ICS. But, we still cannot guarantee you safety. For more protection, get an anti-virus from the Google Play Store.

(reported by Johnny Wills, edited by Dave Clark)