Android Anti-Malware Apps vs. Tap Snake

Last week Sarah Perez reported that a game called Tap Snake, available in Android Market, was actually a mostly harmless piece of spyware. I took to the opportunity to test a few of the anti-malware apps available on the market: antivirus free from droidSecurity, Lookout, Symantec's Norton Mobile Security for Android beta, and Smobile. I was also going to try SmrtGuard, but I couldn't get the app to activate before Tap Snake was removed from Android Market. Of those four apps, only one detected Tap Snake as a potential threat.

Surprisingly, Lookout was the only app that caught Tap Snake. I say surprisingly, because Symantec definitely knew about the app by the time I conducted my tests on the morning of August 17th. droidSecurity, SmrtGuard and Symantec did not respond to inquiries as to why their respective apps failed to detect the spyware.

It's important to note that one is an incredibly small sample size, and it's hard to judge a security solution based on one case study. The apps also have other security features, such as backup, device location and remote wipe, that are worth considering.

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