Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
Summary: Android malware samples had increased from 400 to 13,302 in six months.
Popularity comes at a price.
During 2011 there was an 'unprecedented growth' of mobile malware attacks, with Android up a stratospheric 3.325 percent, according to a report by the Juniper Networks Mobile Threat Center.
The report makes depressing reading. Across all platforms, mobile malware attacks are up 155 percent, with mobile malware samples increasing from 11,138 in 2010 to 28,472 in 2011. BlackBerry malware grew by 8 percent, and Java ME saw a 49 percent increase. But the platform hit hardest was Android, with malware increasing by an incredible 3,325 percent in a year. During the last six months of 2011, Android malware samples had increased from 400 to 13,302.
Spyware was the most popular Android malware, accounting for 63 percent, while 36 percent were premium rate SMS Trojans. Another 30 percent could obtain location information without user consent and 14.7 percent had the ability to make calls behind the user's back.
The report also notes that malware is becoming more sophisticated, with malware like Droid KungFu using encrypted payloads to avoid detection and Droid Dream disguising itself as a legitimate app.
Security guru Bruce Schneier isn't surprised. 'I don't think this is surprising at all,' wrote Schneier in a blog post. 'Mobile is the new platform. Mobile is a very intimate platform. It's where the attackers are going to go.'
Full report here.
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Talkback
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
No, up from 400 just six months earlier. Did you read the post?
It looks like Infestation is the new fragmentation.
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
You can over do it. Case in point
Up from 400 6 months earlier.
Well explained if you read the blog instead of hoping The Force would impart the information directly.
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
And hurt feelings compute even less
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
While I'll grant there's room for concern with Android and malware (quite the broad brush that word as well) I'm also fascinated that iOS wasn't even mentioned. Are there no Trojan Horses on iOS? Don't be confused I'm a died in the wool Apple stockholder and fanboy of the deepest type, but that doesn't mean I'm not rational.
Adrian, how about some real numbers, as in a count of malware in the wild? How about a comparison between the OSs you mention and iOS as well? Charts that only do percentages don't provide much information.
I agree. Even SJVN says it can't happen
And we know how balanced and accurate he is.
;)
Is it rubbish because it's critical of Android?
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
Like others' aren't?
PWN2OWN...
Jailbreaking iphones by simply loading iOS' browser and going to a website (and who knows what gets seeded during that process...)
None of them incorporates a firewall, either - so how are ANY of them anything remotely trustworthy?
There are many other issues, with iOS, Android, and other platforms... anyone thinking one is really more secure than the other is in dreamland...
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
RE: Report: Android malware up 3,325% in 2011
touche