Android users beware
Contributed by: Email on 07/05/2012 10:29 AM
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Android users beware. If you are downloading apps from the official Google Play store, you should know that in the past month, according to a Trend Micro report, the number of malicious apps has doubled from 10,000 to 20,000. This is up from the 5,000 malicious apps identified from January to March of this year.
The company's TrendLabs threat response team found that approximately 30% of the malicious apps it encountered were disguised as popular legitimate applications; in the past, criminals have, for example, created a fake Instagram app and a fake version of the Angry Birds game. Most of these apps were designed to earn criminals money by tricking the victims into using premium rate services – such as sending text messages that can cost upwards of £5 each – or viewing mobile ads. Other malicious apps stole private data from users' devices or turned the devices into part of a mobile botnet, like the one discovered earlier this year by Symantec.
"The growth in Android malware demonstrates sustained and focused criminal interest in the mobile platform and particularly in the Android operating system," said Rik Ferguson, Trend Micro director of security research and communications. In the third quarter, the company estimates that the total number of malware samples will increase to 38,000; the fourth quarter this number is expected to rise to nearly 130,000.
The company's TrendLabs threat response team found that approximately 30% of the malicious apps it encountered were disguised as popular legitimate applications; in the past, criminals have, for example, created a fake Instagram app and a fake version of the Angry Birds game. Most of these apps were designed to earn criminals money by tricking the victims into using premium rate services – such as sending text messages that can cost upwards of £5 each – or viewing mobile ads. Other malicious apps stole private data from users' devices or turned the devices into part of a mobile botnet, like the one discovered earlier this year by Symantec.
"The growth in Android malware demonstrates sustained and focused criminal interest in the mobile platform and particularly in the Android operating system," said Rik Ferguson, Trend Micro director of security research and communications. In the third quarter, the company estimates that the total number of malware samples will increase to 38,000; the fourth quarter this number is expected to rise to nearly 130,000.
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