During the first quarter, 750,000 new Android malware samples were discovered, less than last year in the same period

Apr 27, 2017 20:57 GMT  ·  By

Cybercriminals are setting their eyes on Android devices, as 750,000 new Android malware apps were discovered in the first quarter of 2017, which means that almost 8,400 new malware instances were found every day. 

According to security firm G Data, it is expected that by the end of the year, there will be 3.5 million new Android malware samples discovered, up from the 3.25 million discovered last year.

On the bright side, the year had a slower start than 2016, when more malware files directed at Android devices were discovered. However, the threat level for users of smartphones and tablets running on Android remains high.

Oftentimes, the firm points out, the issue stems from the fact that older devices do not get updated to the latest Android version. In fact, only 4.9 percent of smartphone and tablet users have Android 7 Nougat, which has been available since August 2016. Over 31 percent run Android 6.0 Marshmallow and over 32% run Android 5.0 Lollipop. Another 20 percent of users run Android KitKat.

"The problem is that third party providers do not adapt the new operating system for older devices ("older" in this case meaning one year or more). Sometimes, newer operating system updates are not published at all. Hence, in many cases it can take a long time before any updates are provided. That is, if they are provided at all," the company notes.

An industry problem

There is a major difference between mobile devices and PCs running Windows for instance, because mobile buyers cannot estimate for how long they'll receive the latest security fixes.

That being said, users need to be cautious so they do not get infected, starting with installing a virus scanner. Then, they should learn to avoid phishing schemes and they should definitely not install apps that don't come from the official app stores. But besides all this, some malicious apps fall through the cracks, mostly because they're only the gateway for the malware. That means that they don't actually carry the malware, but they can and will download the malicious content once they are installed. In order to avoid such apps, users should check reviews and app scores to see if it may be advisable to avoid them altogether.