Does Android Need An Anti-Virus?

This month, the world of mobile development officially grew up when Symantec released its Norton Security App with Anti-Virus product for the Android platform. To be fair, this isn’t the first anti-virus app for Android, but it is certainly the most well known. And the rumor is that the Security App will be a native Android feature with 2.2 (FroYo). Is this a necessary evil, a proactive strike against hackers, or a waste of system resources?

Android devices, and all mobile devices to be fair, are just small computers. And every computer that has contact with the outside world is susceptible to viruses and other malware. So, with that being said, let’s look at the prevalence of viruses on the Android platform. I searched around for some reported virus or trojans… and found a grand total of zero. I am sure there are one or two out there, but for the life of me I couldn’t find them. So I guess we can rule out the idea that the Security App is a response to an existing threat. Thinking about it, the lack of viruses makes sense. The OS is built on a Linux kernel, and each installed application gets its own account and user permissions, making data fairly secure across applications. This would make it hard (but not impossible) to write a piece of malware for an Android device. Also, the OS itself forces all applications to register its requested security access when it is installed, and users must explicitly give the application permission to access secured data. As Charlie Miller, principal analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, stated back when the first Android kernal bug was detected,

If you want to do anything dangerous like access personal contacts, you have to specifically say to the virtual machine ‘these are things I’m going to have to do,’ and the virtual machine will ask the user if that’s OK,” he said. Android applications run in a Java virtual machine on the phone.

This doesn’t mean that Android is invulnerable though. There have been a couple of kernal vulnerabilities that were widely reported, especially with the first few versions of the Android OS. However, the real risk to the Android phone are the users themselves. Since Android allows users to download apk’s from literally any source, it would be fairly easy for a devious developer to build a piece of malware that openly informs the user of what it is planning on doing. How many times do you actually read the security warnings when you install a new app? This is where a Norton Security App could come in handy - ideally an application that can periodically compare the installed applications with a list of known viruses, monitor applications running in the background with a requested scan, and look for patterns of development in the VM that indicate malware.

The Security App is also rumored to have some additional cool features in it, such as the ability to remotely lock and wipe capabilities if your device if lost or stolen. It also has a call blocking feature that can be handy. The app itself is free, but there will be a yet-to-be-announced price for subscription service.  Is a fee worth it?  If you only download application from the Android Market, you should be fine. But if you like to install apps from other sources, a bit of security might not be a bad idea.