Hackers Escalate Reign of Malware Terror on Android

The relatively open nature of Google's Android OS makes it far more vulnerable to malware than Apple's highly controlled iOS, but F-Secure's report that it attracted 79 percent of mobile malware attacks in 2012 still comes as a bit of a shock. "For hackers, the app store is basically paradise, because they can upload a malicious app and infect thousands of devices with very little effort," said nCircle's Lamar Bailey.

ndroid has become a mobile malware magnet, according to F-Secure.

A whopping 79 percent of all mobile malware targeted the Google OS in 2012, based on a new report from the firm. That was up from 66.7 percent in 2011 and just 11.25 percent in 2010.

The fourth quarter of 2012 was particularly bad, it said, with attacks on Android spiking to account for 96 percent of all mobile malware.

It would be easy to make the case that malware is gravitating toward Android because of its growing popularity -- but what then would explain the lack of malware heading toward Apple's iOS, which is just about as popular as Android?

A trifling 0.7 percent of mobile malware targeted Apple's platform, F-Secure found.

There are obvious differences between Android and iOS. For starters, Apple is known for keeping tight control over its system.

"Android is a far more open system, and it is becoming the most popular platform in the world," Cloudmark researcher Andrew Conway told LinuxInsider, "so it is naturally the one that the bad guys will attack."

Source: Technology News