Android Malware Threats Skyrocket
Infections Up Nearly 500%
Feel safer navigating the web on your Android mobile device than your home desktop or laptop? Don't get too comfortable. According to a new report, malware infections on the Android mobile platform have jumped nearly 500 per cent in just the last few months. It's leading many security experts to predict that 2012 will be the year people start paying lots of attention to mobile malware and mobile security.
The aforementioned report comes to us via Juniper Networks and its Juniper Global Threat Center blog, which recently noted that the number of Android-based applications (or "apps") infected with some kind of malware has jumped a stunning 472 per cent since only this past July.
To give you some perspective of just how much Android malware is out there, Juniper Networks executive Dan Hoffman said that he believes something like "tens of thousands" of malware-laced apps exist right now and that roughly five to six per cent of all Android apps are scam-ridden ones of this sort.
There are a number of reasons Android mobile malware is skyrocketing right now. For one, people don't treat their smartphones like their computers, and think they can visit any site and download any application without consequences.
Hoffman believes that has to change, and change soon. "I recommend always going to the vendor's Web site and following the download link from there," Hoffman says. "Read reviews for the app that are published outside the app’s page in the market. That may cost you an extra three or four minutes per download, but it’s well worth it."
Beyond that, people are also getting lazy when it comes to protecting their mobile devices. Hoffman says there are lots of fly-by-night security companies offering cheap (or free) security software that either a) does very little to protect a system, or b) includes malware itself. To get 'round this problem, Hoffman suggests people start actually paying good money for security programs. He believes they'll find it a worthy investment as hackers turn their focus to making life on the Android platform just a bit more difficult.
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