Bad news for owners of Android devices, Kaspersky Labs have discovered what they believe is the first major malicious app for the mobile OS. However, the good news for Irish Android fans is that, for now at least, the issue won’t affect them.

The malicious application can steal cash via phones running the operating system, first posing as a media player before starting to send premium rate text messages once installed. The service being sent messages is operated by the malicious app’s creator, who scoops up the fees, though at the minute the media player scam is “most prevalent among Russian Android users”.

The risks to Android users worldwide is “low” according to Kasperksy, who said that the huge growth in the number of Android applications was likely to make the phones tempting targets for criminals. “We can expect to see a corresponding rise in the amount of malware targeting that platform,” said Denis Maslennikov, mobile research group manager at the firm.

Simeon Coney, spokesman for mobile security firm AdaptiveMobile told the BBC that booby-trapped apps that run up big bills via premium rate numbers were very common on other platforms such as Symbian but this is a new feeling for Android.

Google of course has a system in place that can revoke malicious applications and stop them running on handsets. “Our application permissions model protects against this type of threat,” a spokesperson for Google said.

“When installing an application, users see a screen that explains clearly what information and system resources the application has permission to access, such as a user’s phone number or sending an SMS. Users must explicitly approve this access in order to continue with the installation, and they may uninstall applications at any time.”

Their main bit of advice is to exercise caution when installing applications outside of Android Market.