Chinese news agency Xinhua has reveled in a recent report, citing the findings of a research by Hong Kong-based security firm Kingsoft Duba, that a vast mobile botnet has hit up to 1 million Android users in China.

Revealing that the large Android botnet had spread across the handsets running Google's Android mobile operating system through `Android. Troj. mdk' malware strain, the Kingsoft Duba researchers said that the Trojan exists in more than 7,000 Google Play apps, including popular titles like Temple Run and Fishing Joy.

Once the malware has been installed on the Android handsets, the infected handset can be remote-controlled by the attackers, who thus get the ability to pilfer sensitive data, download additional apps, and produce irritant adware.

Though the `Andorid. Troj. mdk' Trojan was reportedly discovered in 2011, researchers said that, according to recent analysis, it has now been found that the botnet has increased the rates of infection rates to such an extent that nearly one million smartphones have been infected.

Despite the fact that the million-node-plus botnet represents only a small proportion of the 150 million Android-handset users in China, researchers are of the opinion that the botnet has been able to break the one million victim barrier chiefly because of the ever-increasing data consumption in the country, along with a lack of awareness over mobile security threats.