Android Anti-Virus Firms Release Carrier IQ Detection App Thirty Days Late

It’s been a month since the much talked about controversial software, Carrier IQ, has been discovered. The thing that’s been bothering some people is not the software itself, but the slow response of Android to the software.

After more than thirty days of detection, it’s only now that some Android anti-virus firms have started acting on it. Carrier IQ detection apps are in the process of rolling out as we speak.

Lookout had released the Carrier IQ Detector, after which BitDefender has followed with the Carrier IQ Finder. Both these apps are similar in that both identifies the presence of the mobile diagnostic tool and notify users whether their Android devices are home to the controversial software.

These detectors don’t remove the software though. Both have been made available for free, since last Saturday, in the Android Market. The global research director at BitDefender, Catalin Cosoi, said that, “The Carrier IQ package can’t be removed by the users themselves if they don’t have root access on the device. They can, however, take the issue with the carrier and ask that the package be removed from the system.”

The intriguing thing being asked is why didn’t this application get detected as unwanted long back. Why are anti-virus firms in the need of an extra app for the software’s detection?

Lookout answered some queries as to why the Carrier IQ wasn’t listed on the Android security. “Based on what we know so far, it doesn’t appear that Carrier IQ’s software is malware, and for that reason it’s not flagged as such by Lookout,”

The fact that Carrier IQ could stay undetected and that anti-virus firms are in need of added support from extra apps raises some questions. How much of security is really guaranteed?