79% of Mobile Malware Targets Android

[Guest]

Android is the most popular mobile OS on the market, so it's not surprising that hackers have designed 79 percent of mobile malware for it.

79% of Mobile Malware Targets Android : Read more

 

[alextheblue]

If this was a Microsoft or Apple OS, I have no doubt the bashing in the comments would be quite astounding right about now.

 

[ap3x]

Where is all the comments. Crickets.......

 

[BranFlake5]

Malware goes for the most popular OS right? That's why way more PCs get viruses over MACs.

 

[house70]

Leave it to fanbois to talk about something they don't get. I'm looking at you, otacon. If Android was so full of holes, nobody would used it, because nobody intentionally wants to buy a system that is going to be infected from day one. You'd understand that with a minimum of applied logic.
Any OS is as secure as the user allows it. By default Android has all the necessary stops in place. Don't forget, this is about malware targeting devices, not malware installed on devices. The simple fact that after so many years we have yet to encounter any significant "epidemic" out there on Android phones is a testament that many can try, but so far none has succeeded.
OTOH, if one intentionally start removing the default stops, it's all on him/her.

 

[hitman40]

@BraneFlake5
"Malware goes for the most popular OS right? That's why way more PCs get viruses over MACs."

And that's somehow a good thing? This goes for the comment you just provided in general, not related to this article.

 

[okibrian]

@BranFlake5

And so you would expect iOS to be the second most targeted, but yet it's not. Wonder why that is? Maybe it's a little more secure? Nah, it couldn't be that...could it?

 

[fatboytyler]

Wonder how many of those "criminals" are the NSA?

 

[fatboytyler]

Wonder how many of those "criminals" are the NSA?

 

[ap3x]

Actually house70, when people buy a consumer device of anytime. They are not actually thinking about security. Android has always been swiss cheese in terms of security. And the delivery mechanism has mostly been though it's apps. This is not a case of it being popular, that is part of it. It is because it has more potential threat vectors in part due to it 's coveted openness and lack of checks and balances. Also, it is difficult to fix the problems because the upgrade process is not uniform across all devices. Google probably does everything they can to shore up issues and the new releases but most people do not or can't upgrade their phones.

It does not take an epidemic to consider a phone insecure. You have to keep in mind, malware is created to take advantage of a specific weakness or a set of weaknesses on the platform it is designed to infect. It does not get created unless the weakness exist. This is not people writing app's that don't work. The malware works, just depends on the version of platform code that it was installed on. If the phone has a new version of Android then that particular malware may not work as intended. Most of this stuff is not strategic and targeted, they write code that works on a certain platform because the vulnerability is available and then just release it. People with all types of Android versions will download it and some will match and some will not.

Personally, I think Android is a great platform and has come along way. But it is way to disjointed and needs a set of checks and balances. Right now it is the wild west. But it has gotten allot better.

 

[ap3x]

otacon72, actually a default install of Linux is no more secure than Windows. The difference is that you can harden Linux to a point where it is extremely secure. Unlike Windows. Same thing applies to OSX although they do some default stuff really well like the default use of sudo to get to root privileges. On Windows, you are admin by default.

Unix based platforms are inherently more stable would be an accurate statement but security requires a little love.

 

[razor512]

Any OS that allows you to run additional code is vulnerable to viruses and other forms of malware. People who make malware will always target the most popular operating systems as that offers them the best chance to infect the largest number of devices.

The key to not getting infected is to not install unknown and unverified software.

 

[somebodyspecial]

ios has about 17% of the market and android ~75-80%. So this makes sense. The amount of malware aimed at your platform is directly related to the amount of OS share you own...LOL. No surprise. Upgrade your OS and get at least a freeware security suite for it. Problem solved.

 

[rantoc]

Hardly surprising, why aim for the small numbers when you can aim for the big ones with the same work? Computer wise Windows is by far the most targeted since it have a by far the biggest market share, why should mobile space be any different?

 

[rantoc]

Gotta love the comments about osx and security, osx _always_ get hacked first in all the black hat like events... coincident - hardly. The only thing that have saved the os ands the lack of security fixes is the lack of market penetration or it would been listed as possibly the weakest (based on default config).

 

[ap3x]

Where is all the comments. Crickets.......

 

[hoofhearted]

Need Android DeCrapifier