14 DAY TRIAL // We’ve known for a while that Android is the preferred target for malware writers across the world, and now Nokia comes to state the obvious and provide some numbers to support their research.
Nokia’s latest Threat Intelligence Report says Android is by far the most attacked mobile platform with no less than 68.50 percent of the malware specifically aimed at Google’s operating system. Windows is second with 27.96 percent, while the remaining 3.54 percent goes to the “other” category that also includes the iPhone.
These are clearly important stats for the iPhone, not only because only few malware infections are going after its users, but also because it’s included in the Others category, which means the share could be much lower than 3.5 percent.
Infected apps keep making it to the Play store
As for the reasons Android is the preferred platform for malware writers, Nokia once again becomes Captain Obvious, explaining that side-loading is seen by cybercriminals as a very effective way to bypass protections and compromise devices.
“The main reason that the Android platform is targeted, is the fact that, once side-loading is enabled, Android applications can be downloaded from just about anywhere. Despite the very successful efforts by Google to ensure that the Play Store is malware free, Android users can continue to install apps by clicking on links in text messages and e-mail. In addition, in many regions third-party app stores have become the norm,” Nokia explains in its research.
Even though apps published in the Google Play Store are supposed to be 100 percent clean, it happens every once in a while for malware to reach the store and compromise apps that can be downloaded by users across the world.
Security company ESET warned earlier today that at least eight different apps infected with multi-stage malware were published in the Google Play Store, recording at least several hundred downloads before they were removed by Google.