Android Malware Spikes 61 Percent In Just A Quarter

Android malware continues to grow at a startling pace, as Finnish security firm F-Secure found 5033 malicious Android application package files in the second quarter of 2012, representing a 64 percent increase.

It also found 19 new families and 21 fresh variants of existing Android malware families.

“Android malware is on the rise because simply because there are more opportunities out there to exploit. As the Android OS market share continues to surpass Apple’s, the criminals have more devices to target and a higher chance of success,” said Sean Sullivan security advisor at F-Secure.

Android weakness

“Android’s weakness isn’t in the technology but the user experience. The main way that Android malware infects phones is through users installing dubious apps. So, it is clearly a social engineering problem rather than a flaw in the operating system itself.

“People can’t be expected to read every permission, every time so there should be a way of them being clearer or colour coded, for example if they ask for money.”

Just yesterday, Kaspersky Lab found fresh mobile versions of the Zeus malware targeting Android systems. In July, over 100,000 downloaded malicious apps on the official Google Play store. In that case they were disguising themselves as Mario and Grand Theft Auto games titles.

Earlier this month, Google released a new set of rules for developers to follow as it seeks to make Play a safer place for users to shop. The updated policy outlined little new, apart from noting it would target apps using similar imagery and those sending texts, emails or other messages on behalf of the user without gaining permission.

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