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Topic: Security

Kaspersky: Cybercriminals to go after Android

Summary: However, still a 'thousand times less than computer malware.'

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

Mobile malware is a real threat, but it's still a drop in the ocean compared to the threat facing PCs.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal ahead of next week's Mobile World Congress, Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder of Kapersky Lab, said that mobile malware was real, but that it was still a 'thousand times less than computer malware.'

'The situation is not so dangerous or big compared to computer malware,' he said. 'There are millions of threats every month compared to only hundreds or maybe thousands with phones, so it's a thousand times less than with computers. But it is growing very quickly, and they are reality.'

Kaspersky sees the future of cybercrime as falling into two categories. First, the consumer attacks, which he sees as increasingly being focused on Android based smartphones and tablets, and enterprise attacks will be more traditional computer attacks.

These statements come a day after the release of a report that claimed that Android malware had increased by a massive 3,325 percent during 2011.

But who are these cybercriminals? 'They are geeks,' he said. 'They are organized, they trade with each other. It is a business. But it is not the Mafia. As far as I know there is no connection between the two.'

Related:

Image credit: Kaspersky Lab

Topics: Security, Android, Google, Malware

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9 comments
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  • Articles like this villify Andoid's security

    Articles like this vilify Android's security in the title's to get views, then always have to back track in the article. There seems to be a growing trend to try and make Android look fragmented and insecure by bloggers. But as the article says, "it???s still a drop in the ocean compared to the threat facing PCs."

    The fact is Apple and Microsoft hate Android because it's secure like Mac, but cheap like Windows, free like Linux...and yet has managed to stay profitable and do 90% of what people want in a desktop.
    Socratesfoot
    Reply Vote

    • Right. Yet if you're the person hit by malware on your Android device

      Then it's hardly a "drop in the ocean", anymore.
      William Farrel
      Reply Vote

    • I see one major hole in your theory

      [b]The fact is Apple and Microsoft hate Android because it's secure like Mac, but cheap like Windows, free like Linux...and yet has managed to stay profitable and do 90% of what people want in a desktop.[/b]

      Android is NOT as secure as Mac or iOS - sorry but that's a fact. There is what 3 or 4 malware apps in the wild that affect Mac OS, none thus far for iOS (not since they closed the PDF exploit), and how many hundreds of apps that were removed from Google's Android App Store for Android? There is a reason why Android has not been adopted in the Enterprise like the iPhone has.

      And how can you say that Android is "...cheap like Windows, free like Linux..." that makes NO sense at all... Android is NOT really free (one has to buy an Android-compatible device for it) but it is open - perhaps THAT is what you meant when you said "free"...

      Android is vulnerable even within it's own App Market and having one's head in the sand will not change that any more than the mac zealots having their heads in the sand will change the fact that there is malware that the Mac OS is vulnerable to out in the wild and malware is not just a Windows problem anymore.

      And before you scream that I'm an iOS zealot I am an iOS proponent but I also use a rooted Nook Color running Gingerbread 2.3.7 via cyanogenmod7 and a Samsung Fascinate also running Gingerbread 2.3.7 via cyanogenmod7. I simply do not have my head in the sand when it comes to the platforms I use.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

  • Another day of sniping by Adrian.

    The Android market place has had some growing pains, but vetting apps is being give much more attention these days such that the likelihood of downloading untested apps with malware characteristics approaches 0.0000000000001%

    Yet, Adrian feels it is important to raise awareness about it for some reason.
    Let's take a good look at where infections occur, BIGTIME, instead of this, shall we Adrian? Yes? Yes!

    OK then.
    Dietrich T. Schmitz *Your
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Another day of sniping by Adrian.

      This is bigger than Google's Android Market as some users unwisely choose to install apps from outside of the Market. And I don't mean Amazon's App Store that, so far, has done a better job of vetting apps than has Google.

      In this case, the remaining line of defense is for the users to pay attention to the permissions that the apps are requesting prior to install. (At the present time, one should also pay attention to the permissions requested for apps downloaded from the Android Market as well.) This is about as helpful as Windows users downloading software from dodgy sites and getting UAC prompts during the install. These Android and Windows users are focused on getting the software installed so that they can run it and ignore the information and prompts.

      Google should get credit for improvements they have made to vetting apps in the Android Market, but they still have work to do. As does Apple with apps having snatched users contact lists without permission. Both Larry Ellison's and Bill Gates' contact information!? LOL.
      Rabid Howler Monkey
      Reply Vote

  • Kaspersky: Cybercriminals to go after Android

    I like how the article tries to down play the threat of malware on android. "It's out there but its no so bad, really" Whatever. What you didn't take into account is there are far more PCs than smartphones and that is why you see more malware. But since smartphone segment is growing we'll see the malware numbers grow as well. And remember this malware only runs on android, it can't run on other platforms.
    Loverock Davidson-
    Reply Vote

    • But ...

      Is not 1000/1 PC's/Androids relation, (maybe 2/1?)
      So taking in account that "fact". There is still so much more malware in Windows.
      And so much much more virus in Windows than Android, but is easier to use than Windows, (unless you are S. Balmer) lol "Joke"
      orendon
      Reply Vote

  • Android hacks!

    I have to agree with Kaspersky and say that an y breach in security is a problem. as we grow and technology changes so will malware and it will grow as the same as technology is. We need to address the issues now before they have a chance to adapt and change again.
    HotelRoomKing
    Reply Vote

  • Kaspersky should know .....

    .... after all, they make most of the new viruses in their labs in Russia.

    That is why Kaspersky is so fast at detecting new malware ...
    wackoae
    Reply Vote
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