Government memo warns that Android accounts for 79% of mobile malware

[Half Monk 697]

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice has released their findings on the security of mobile operating systems like Android, Symbian, iOS, Windows Mobile, and the rest. It probably shouldn't come as much surprise, but Android is in fact at the most risk for malware.

 

 

In 2012, Android accounted for 79 percent of all mobile malware; second place wasn't even close and it was Symbian with 19 percent, but market share for Symbian shrinks every day. Third place is Apple's iOS accounting for a mere 0.7 percent of malware. Windows Mobile and BlackBerry tie at 0.3 percent each, and all others collectively account for 0.7 percent. The difference between the two main players -- Android at 79 percent and iOS at 0.7 percent -- is dramatic.

 

The release says Android has been a "primary target" for attack, blaming its large global market share and openness; the study tested for SMS trojans, rootkits and counterfeit apps. The two government departments caution that government workers using Android must take appropriate security measures to stay malware-free, such as always having the latest software release.

 

Android malware isn't a new problem. It's been the target for malicious content mainly since it's claim to fame and there are now over 700,000 malicious Android apps and growing. Google's unwalled garden approach only adds fuel to the fire as well.

 

[Saran999 288]

Malware it's a plague, and there are no doubts. But it's also really a sign of success, and a push to evolution. I imagine the thousand of programmers that are crashing their keyboards to write code that will strengthen and enhance the Android platform in the future. But, in the other hand, apart from the 'unwalled garden google approach', this may push to think that the platform itself it's not so good and comparable to the MS Windows one for the desktop OS. I'm waiting to see more Ubuntu and Linux phone grow in number to see if it's true, as for now, IOS is the only true POSIX compliant platform out there, proving again and again UNIX superiority as all purpose OS. For now, the only number we have is IOS 0,7% and Others 0,7%... Others may be Linux phones alone?