14 DAY TRIAL // F-Secure has released its Mobile Threat report for the second quarter of 2012 and, as expected, the numbers show that Android malware has continued its steady incline.
The figures from the paper reveal that a total of 5033 malicious Android app package files (APKs) have been identified in the past three months. Statistically speaking, the figure is 64% higher compared to the previous quarter.
New variants of malware have emerged, 19 new families being discovered. Existing families have welcomed a number of 21 new additions, mostly part of OpFake and FakeInst.
Other platforms have also welcomed new families and variants. If the threats remained mostly the same for PocketPCs, they recorded a slight increase on Symbian and J2ME.
New pieces of Android malware weren't the only ones to make headlines. Developers have come up with new infection vectors, as demonstrated by elements such as NotCompatible.A and Cawitt.A.
The former Trojan was the first to spread via drive-by-downloads, while the latter relied on Twitter as a bot mechanism to infect the devices of unsuspecting users.
The list of potentially unwanted applications detailed in the report includes: Mobsqueeze.A, AdOp.A, AndSpy.A, Lifemonspy.A, MobileTracker.A, PdaSpy.A, and many others.
Of course, many of the malicious elements identified in the past months represent a way for their owners to make a profit. As a result, the number of mobile threats motivated by profit has increased by four new families and variants.
As far as malware is concerned, a few names stand out: AcnetSteal.A, Cawitt.A, Frogonal.A, Gamex.A, KabStamper.A, Mania.A, PremiumSMS.A, SMSSpy.F, UpdtKiller.A, Uranico.A, NotCompatible.A, and CutFreeSMS.A.
These are able to perform various tasks, including sending SMSs to premium numbers, downloading arbitrary content, harvesting sensitive information, and erasing data.
The complete F-Secure Mobile Threat Report is available here.