Report shows most malware comes from old-school scams

Jun 12, 2018 09:09 GMT  ·  By

Malware on Android has become a major concern, but a new report shows that it’s much harder than you think to have your device infected if you don’t fall for old-school tactics.

Data published by security vendor PSafe shows that there are three common ways to compromise an Android device, and most of them come down to tricking users into clicking on malicious content.

First, there’s the traditional trick that involves dating sites and which uses ads to convince Android users to open crafted links. Once users open these pages, they are then provided with more links, ads, or are served files that are infected with malware. Approximately 19 percent of the scams are based on this approach, the report shows.

Then, there are the fake virus alerts and the fake sweepstakes giveaways, with the latter accounting for 7 percent of all attacks on Android in 2018. In most of the cases, users are requested to visit specifics websites to download security software or to claim prizes, only to then be served malware or open more malicious links.

3 million online scams detected in just one quarter

In some scams, attackers also call for users to subscribe to a service that would charge them through the carrier plan an undisclosed amount of money.

There were 3 million online scams detected and aimed at Android devices in the first quarter of the year, the report further adds, and men were twice as likely to click on malicious URLs than women. But at the same time, women are more possible victims of fake sweepstakes giveaways.

Unfortunately, even if these scams are pretty easy to detect, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not effective. The report shows that on average, Americans clicked on 23 suspected malicious links per minute, which in turn exposed their devices, especially in the case where they were eventually served malware downloads.