Alcatel-Lucent's Motive Security Labs has reported that threats to mobile and residential devices and attacks on communications networks all rose in 2014.

The report estimates that 16 million mobile devices worldwide have been infected by malware.

Android devices have now caught up with Windows laptops. Malware infections in mobile devices increased 25 percent in 2014. Infection rates detected by researchers are now split roughly 50/50 between Android and Windows devices.

On the other hand, the report found that less than one percent of infections come from iOS and Blackberry devices.

The big increase in mobile infection rates is aided by the fact that many users still don't take proper precautions. Unfortunately, while most PC users would not think of going on the net without AV software, that is not the case with mobile users.

Patrick Tan, General Manager of Network Intelligence at Alcatel-Lucent, said: "With malware attacks on devices steadily rising with consumer ultra-broadband usage, the impact on customer experience becomes a primary concern for service providers. As a result, we're seeing more operators take a proactive approach to this problem by providing services that alert subscribers to malware on their devices along with self-help instructions for removing it".