Last week, a Microsoft researcher claimed to have discovered an Android botnet, but it looks like it might not exist after all. According to a statement from Google, their analysis suggests that spammers are using infected computers and a fake mobile signature to bypass anti-spam mechanisms in the email platform they’re using.
In response, the author of the original post about the Android botnet wrote a follow-up post saying that Google’s suggestions could be correct, but the idea of an Android-based botnet shouldn’t be discounted either. Regardless of which theory is accurate – users should be careful about what they download anyway – either on their PCs or Android phones. Read up more about Google’s dispute here.