Android malware problem up by 472 percent

As Android continues to grow in popularity, so does the problem of aggressive malware code. Expert reports are claiming that the growth of this malware is a staggering 472 percent since July.

SecurityNewsDaily spoke with Tim Armstrong of Kaspersky Lab and he said “Android malware is growing at an exponential rate, but until a large and significant user base is affected by malware, I fear we won't see any major changes in user behavior.”

This point was reiterated by Chester Wisniewski of Sophos who said “Most consumers don't care until they get their first $1,000 phone bill because their pirated Angry Birds has been calling Estonia all month.”

The source of the report comes from Juniper Networks who say that malware has increased by 472 percent in just four months since July.

They add “What happens when anyone can develop and publish an application to the Android Market? A 472% increase in Android malware samples since July 2011. These days, it seems all you need is a developer account, that is relatively easy to anonymize, pay $25 and you can post your applications.  With no upfront review process, no one checking to see that your application does what it says, just the world’s largest majority of smartphone users skimming past your application’s description page with whatever description of the application the developer chooses to include. Sure, your application can be removed after the fact—if someone discovers that it is actually malicious and reports it.  But, how many unsuspecting people are going to download it before it is identified as malicious and removed?  This is precisely what is playing out in the mind of mobile malware developers today.”

Many experts are claiming that The Google distribution model is badly flawed with the blame shared between carriers, manufacturers and software developers.

Kitguru says: Have Apple been right all along for primarily locking out their own mobile platform?

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