Money Matters: Cyber thieves mobile devices

(NECN/AP) Here's a rundown of the morning's developing business headlines, which may impact stock performance:

- Cyber thieves target mobile phones

Cyber theives are finding new ways to access information.

According to analysts at Mcaffee, cyber theives are developing new techniques to hack into mobile devices.

Nearly half of the Malware found was aimed at Android-based devices. One of the ways they're doing it is by injecting Malware into certain apps which, if downloaded, could compromise financial information.

- Trial set to open for Gulf oil spill litigation

 A federal judge in New Orleans is set to preside over a high-stakes trial for the raft of litigation spawned by a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
 
Barring an 11th-hour settlement, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier will hear several hours of opening statements today by lawyers for the companies involved in the 2010 spill and the government and private plaintiffs who sued them. Barbier, not a jury, could decide how much more money is owed by BP PLC and its partners on the ill-fated drilling project.
 
BP has said it already has racked up more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses and has estimated it will pay a total of $42 billion to fully resolve its liability for the disaster.

- AT&T snags OnStar wireless contract from Verizon

AT&T is scoring a win over rival Verizon Wireless as it takes over the contract to supply wireless connections to cars with General Motors' OnStar service.
 
Verizon Wireless and its predecessor companies have supplied the network for OnStar since the service launched in the 1990s, but AT&T will take over with the 2015 model year, AT&T and GM say.
 
The news comes as cellphone companies are jostling to connect non-phone devices, now that nearly everyone has a phone.
 
AT&T will connect OnStar cars to its new "4G LTE" network, which can supply much higher data speeds than current OnStar connections. That means GM could deliver car software updates wirelessly, among other things.

- KFC launches China campaign to rebuild brand

 KFC has unveiled new quality control measures in China in an effort to rebuild its battered brand after a scandal over misuse of antibiotics by its suppliers to fatten poultry.
 
KFC said Monday it will strengthen oversight of its suppliers and expand drug testing. It said more than 1,000 small producers used by the company's 25 poultry suppliers have been eliminated from its network.
 
The company, owned by Yum Brands Inc., says sales in China might fall by as much as 25 percent in the current quarter after state television reported in December that poultry suppliers were using excessive levels of antibiotics to fatten chickens.
 
KFC is China's biggest fast-food chain with more than 4,000 outlets. China accounts for about 40 percent of KFC's profit.

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