Japanese police arrested five mobile applications developers for creating and embedding a virus into smartphone applications. According to The Metropolitan Police Department, Intial reports said that about 90,000 smartphones users were infected with a virus lurking in applications they downloaded, But later they found that developers stole more than 10 million pieces of personal information from users mobile.
These guys runs an IT-related company, they created a video applications for Android smartphones containing a virus that extracts personal information stored on the phone. The man released the apps on Google Inc.'s official store for free in late March and was downloaded 270,000 times.
The free apps were marketed to customers by affixing the phrase "The Movie" to existing popular game titles. When the apps are downloaded and activated, they can automatically transmit personal data. The stolen information found on the server has not been used by the malware developers but the police is investigating the motive of the crime.
Violators face up to three years in prison or fines of up to 500,000 yen (S$7645). Creating viruses for computers and smartphones was criminalized under the revised Penal Code that was enacted in July last year.
