More than 440K new Android malware strains found in Q1, study finds by Terri Robinson.
From the post:
More than 440,000 new strains of Android malware were discovered by security experts at G DATA analyzing data for the first quarter of 2015.
That the company’s Q1 2015 Mobile Malware Report found so many strains of malware, representing a 6.4 percent jump from the quarter before, is not surprising, considering half of U.S. consumers use a smartphone or tablet to do their banking and 78 percent of those on the Internet make purchases online, giving cybercriminals a large pool of potential victims as well as the opportunity for significant financial gain.
“Mobile banking has become a very profitable target of opportunity,” Andy Hayter, security evangelist at G DATA, told SCMagazine.com in an email correspondence. “With mobile banking applications being new, bad guys are taking advantage, and targeting these apps since the majority of those using them are unaware that you should protect your mobile device from malware.”
The uptick represents 4,900 new Android malware files each day of the quarter, up 400 files daily from those recorded in the second half of 2014. About 200 new malware samples were identified daily, meaning that a new malware sample was discovered every 18 seconds.
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You know the problem. Apps want to work across multiple versions of Android and with third-party sites (like banks), which multiplies the number of security steps that have to be done right with each targeted interaction.
What are the odds of all those security steps being done right? With a new malware sample every 18 seconds, I would say the odds are heavily stacked against encountering a secure app. Could happen but on the order of the moon becoming a black hole, spontaneously.
Take the same security precautions with your smart phone as you would with any other network connected device. Keep your OS/apps updated on a regular basis. Off-load data not needed for immediate access. Data not on your phone can’t be stolen if your phone is compromised.