21 Applications pulled from the Market for Rooting Exploit

This is just another setback for anyone who already thinks the Android Market needs some serious help. Google has just pulled 21 malicious apps from the market. These apps use a known root exploit to root your device without you knowing, and can then send any of your data to a remote server, or worse. Here is a list of the apps that were pulled:

Falling Down
Super Guitar Solo
Super History Eraser
Photo Editor
Super Ringtone Maker
Super Sex Positions
Hot Sexy Videos
Chess
下坠滚球_Falldown
Hilton Sex Sound
Screaming Sexy Japanese Girls
Falling Ball Dodge
Scientific Calculator
Dice Roller
躲避弹球
Advanced Currency Converter
App Uninstaller
几何战机_PewPew
Funny Paint
Spider Man
蜘蛛侠

If you have installed any of these applications, they should obviously be uninstalled from your phone right away, but that isn’t all you need to do. You’ll also want to do a full system wipe and reset your data, as well as doing a full .sbf to your phone. If this is beyond your Android skills you should head over to your nearest carrier store and have them do this right away.

This could also be the spark needed to make carriers and manufacturers work towards updating Android devices. As of now, there is a patch in Android 2.2.2 that halts the root exploit, and in Gingerbread(Android 2.3) the exploit doesn’t work at all. Hopefully we’ll hear something from the manufacturers soon if this does get their attention.

[via Android Police]