News Articles

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Mobile malware infections continue to rise, with Android devices a favourite target

The number of mobile malware infections increased by 17% during the first six months of 2014, which is almost double the rate seen in 2013. It mirrors a similar infection rate in residential fixed-line networks, from a 9% increase in December 2013 to 18% at the end of June 2014.

These figures come from communications specialist Alcatel-Lucent, which estimates that 15 million mobile devices worldwide were infected with malware.

Overall, the mobile infection rate was 0.65% during the first half of 2014, compared to 0.55% at the end of 2013. Android devices accounted for 60% of all infections via a mobile network, while infections on Apple iPhone and BlackBerry devices made up less than 1%. Most of the other infections were Windows laptops connected to a mobile phone, USB dongle or mobile WiFi hub,

Kevin McNamee, security architect and director of Alcatel-Lucent’s Kindsight Security Labs, said “Android smartphones are the easiest malware target, but Windows laptops are still the favorite of hard core professional cybercriminals. The quality and sophistication of most Android malware is still behind the more mature Windows PC varieties. Android malware makes no serious effort to conceal itself and relies on unsuspecting people to install an infected app.”

[Kindsight Security Labs Malware Report: H1 2014 (pdf)]

Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«March 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
26272829123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
1234567

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement