Nearly 5,000 New Types Of Android Malware Created Every Day

The amount of threats affecting Android smartphone users has exploded over the first few months of 2015, a new security study has found.

Figures from security firm G DATA Security Labs have found that Android tablets and smartphones came under threat from around 4,900 new malware files every day – equivalent to 18 a second.

The first three months of 2015 saw 440,267 new strains of malware detected, an 6.4 percent increase compared to the second half of last year, according to the company’s latest Mobile Malware Threat Report.

Under attack

Based on the data, G DATA Security Labs is now predicting a record number of new Android malware software this year.

The majority of these are expected to be financially motivated, with more than half predicted to be banking Trojans, SMS Trojans, and similar malware that can track, store, and send banking and financial user information.

This comes as mobile banking and online shopping are booming, with 41 percent of Europeans saying that they currently use a smartphone or tablet for their banking transactions, and another 19 percent planning to switch to mobile banking in the coming year, according to ING Bank.

These users will come under fire from malicious free Android apps and apps from untrusted sources, which carry out tactics such as forced subscriptions via premium SMS or calls, extortion via ransomware and remote control of money transfers during mTAN processes, G Data Software reports.

“The use of smartphones and tablets for online banking is increasing rapidly,” noted Christian Geschkat, G DATA mobile solutions product manager.

“With its dominant market position, the Android operating system in particular is coming to the attention of cyber criminals. Hence it is no surprise that attackers are developing and distributing financial malware such as banking Trojans especially for this platform. As such we are expecting a significant increase in financially motivated malware for the Android operating system this year.”

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