Counterclank Apps To Remain In Android Market

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Google said a controversial set of advertising-supported Android apps will remain in its official Android Market, because they comply with the company's terms of service. The 13 apps in question, which Google said have been collectively downloaded up to 5 million times, use adware software known as Counterclank.

Symantec first sounded the alarm over Counterclank last week, labeling the software--which is part of such apps as Counter Strike Ground Force, Balloon Game, and Sexy Girls Puzzle--as malware. But rival mobile security firm Lookout published its own analysis of the Counterclank software, also known as the Apperhand software development kit, and came to a different conclusion, instead labeling it as adware.

Notably, Lookout found that although Apperhand was "aggressive" and perhaps demonstrated "bad form"--for example because it can change a smartphone browser's homepage, add arbitrary bookmarks, and place a search icon on the home screen--the software didn't exhibit signs of actually being malicious. Rather, it had all of the classic signs of being part of an adware platform, which some software developers use to earn money from their applications. In the case of Apperhand, that compensation appears to be largely based on driving the users of their apps to specified search engines.

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Symantec also said that it had alerted Google to the presence of Counterclank in 13 apps sold via the Android Market. But, it said, "Google replied quickly informing us the applications met their terms of service and they will not be removed."

If the "is it adware, or is it malware?" debate sounds familiar, that's because five years ago, controversy raged over how to classify advertising-supported software on Windows PCs. Although its purveyors often labeled their software as adware, security and antivirus companies more often than not labeled it as malware--in part because some so-called adware was actually malicious--and typically blocked both. Some pundits, meanwhile, helpfully just classifed it all as badware.

Likewise, in response to Lookout's analysis of Counterclank, Symantec this week said that regardless of whether the software counts as malware or adware, the bigger question is: Who wants it on their device?

"The situation we find ourselves in is similar to when adware, spyware, and potentially unwanted applications first made appearances on Windows," read a blog post from the Symantec Security Response Team. "Many security vendors did not initially detect these applications, but eventually, and with the universal approval of computer users, security companies chose to notify users of these types of applications."

"Due to the combined behavior of the applications, negative feedback from users who installed the applications, and the fact that previous applications (Android.Tonclank) using this code were initially suspended from the Google Market, we chose to notify users of Counterclank," said Symantec.

Interestingly, Counterclank is a new version of the Tonclank--aka Plankton--software development kit that first began appearing in Android apps this past summer. Although Google initially suspended apps that contained Tonclank, after further review it reinstated them in the Android Market.

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