‘Android smartphones are most attacked by hackers’

[blockquote right=”pull-right” cite=”Alcatel-Lucent’s Kindsight Security Labs 2014 half-year report”]The report also shows that mobile network infections frequently took the form of trojanized applications which look fine on the surface but contain hidden malware that when downloaded by Android owners from third party app stores, Google Play Store or by phishing scams can steal personal information on one’s phone or send SMS messages and browse the web. [/blockquote]

The report reveals that mobile infection rate is on the increase with the continuous rise in consumer ultra-broadband usage. It was 0.65 percent during the first half of 2014, compared to 0.55 at the end of 2013.

Based on this, Kindsight Security Labs estimates 15 million mobile devices are infected with malware, up from 11.3 million at the end of 2013. Android devices accounted for 60 percent of total mobile network infections. Forty percent of mobile malware originated from Windows laptops connected to a phone or connected directly through a mobile USB stick or MIFI hub. Infections on iPhone devices and BlackBerry devices made up less than 1 percent, according to the report.

“Android smartphones are the easiest malware target, but Windows laptops are still the favorite of hard core professional cybercriminals,” said Kevin McNamee, security architect and director of Alcatel-Lucent’s Kindsight Security Labs. “The quality and sophistication of most Android malware is still behind the more mature Windows PC varieties. Android malware makes no serious effort to conceal itself and relies on unsuspecting people to install an infected app.”

The report also shows that mobile network infections frequently took the form of trojanized applications which look fine on the surface but contain hidden malware that when downloaded by Android owners from third party app stores, Google Play Store or by phishing scams can steal personal information on one’s phone or send SMS messages and browse the web.

McNamee also added that “the best defense against infection is network-based malware detection. People frequently don’t take appropriate security precautions for their devices, and even when they do a malicious app can easily evade detection by device-based anti-virus. Network based anti-virus embedded on an operator’s network cannot be disabled by cybercriminals, is always on and up to date.”