According to F-Secure’s Q1 2014 Mobile Threat Report, 99% of the new mobile malware threats that emerged in Q1 2014 targeted the Android operating system. Android accounted for 275 out of 277 new families F-Secure saw in this period, leaving one (1) new malware each for Symbian and iOS. In the case of iOS, Trojan:iPhoneOS/AdThief.A, only works on jailbroken iPhones. iPhone that have not been jailbroken are not affected, so, in effect, iOS really has zero (0) cases of new malware. As for Symbian… Aw, who cares? Nobody uses Symbian anymore. If you’re curious, see the second graphic below.
In Q1, F-Secure’s Mobile Security product users mostly reported encountering trojans that did some form of silent SMS-sending (mainly from the Fakeinst and SMSSend families).
This was an active quarter for mobile malware development, with a number of “firsts” reported for Android. There was Trojan:Android/Torsm.A, the first one to use Tor to hide its communications with its command and control server. The first Android bootkit, Trojan:Android/Oldboot.A, was reported, as well as a trojan that tries to turn the Android phone into a silent cryptocurrency miner (Trojan:Android/CoinMiner.A).
Then there is the Dendroid toolkit, which promises to make creating Android trojans as simple as clicking a few buttons – and apparently comes with a lifetime warranty, too. Much like virus construction kits and exploit kits did before for PC-based threats, Dendroid will make Android malware creation much more accessible to anyone without the technical skills to do it themselves.
And this is all just in the first three months of 2014.
Moral of the story: Don’t settle for half-assed fakes, get a real iPhone.
More info via F-Secure (pdf) here.
Related articles:
Google’s Sundar Pichai: Android not designed to be safe; if I wrote malware, I’d target Android, too – February 27, 2014
Cisco: Android the target of 99 percent of world’s mobile malware – January 17, 2014
U.S. DHS, FBI warn of malware threats to Android mobile devices – August 27, 2013
Android app malware rates skyrocket 40 percent in last quarter – August 7, 2013
First malware found in wild that exploits Android app signing flaw – July 25, 2013
Mobile Threats Report: Android accounts for 92% of all mobile malware – June 26, 2013
Latest self-replicating Android Trojan looks and acts just like Windows malware – June 7, 2013
99.9% of new mobile malware targets Android phones – May 30, 2013
Mobile malware exploding, but only for Android – May 14, 2013
Mobile malware: Android is a bad apple – April 15, 2013
F-Secure: Android accounted for 96% of all mobile malware in Q4 2012 – March 7, 2013
New malware attacks Android phones, Windows PCs to eavesdrop, steal data; iPhone, Mac users unaffected – February 4, 2013
FBI issues warning over Android malware attacks – October 15, 2012
Researchers discover serious flaw in Android app security, say HTC and Samsung ignore issue – September 28, 2012
Apple’s iPhone has passed a key security threshold – August 13, 2012
Android permissions flaw allows eavesdropping, data theft, location tracking – December 2, 2011
Massive HTC Android security flaw leaves security expert speechless – October 2, 2011
Apple’s iOS unaffected by malware as Android exploits surge 76% – August 24, 2011
Android malware records phone calls; iPhone users unaffected – August 2, 2011
Symantec: Apple iOS offers ‘full protection,’ Google Android ‘little protection’ vs. malware attacks – June 29, 2011
Malware apps spoof Android Market to infect Android phones – June 21, 2011
Google forced to pull several malware-infested apps from Android market – June 8, 2011
Android malware sees explosive growth; even faster than with PCs – April 27, 2011
Virus-laden apps infest Google’s ‘open’ Android platform; iPhone unaffected – March 3, 2011
Security firm warns of new Android trojan that can steal personal information; iPhone unaffected – December 30, 2010
Trojan infects Android smartphones; iPhone unaffected – August 10, 2010
Millions of Android phone users slammed by malicious data theft app – July 29, 2010
Unlike proactive Apple, reactive Google doesn’t block malware from Android app store – June 4, 2010
Malware designed to steal bank information pops up in Google’s Android app store – January 11, 2010
You get what you pay for!
No, not so! When you are stupid enough to buy the 1st phone they give you the 2nd phone FREE now!
Samsung knows the next iPhone is gonna swipe some major marketshare from them…
Not to mention, the other Androids are finally catching up to Samsung in marketing… that… really is the only difference.
It would be interesting if another Android maker had the guts to reveal all the dirty stuff Samsung is known for… and use that in their ads.
In any case, unlike Samsung (that flooded the market), Apple’s constant rise in profits and newcomers to the platforms is all they need. Profitshare > Marketshare
Samsung is more worried about Huawei. IDC reported that the overall mobile market grew 28.6% for the 1st quarter year-over-year. Huawei grew at 47.3%, Apple grew at 16.8%. I know that nobody here believes that market share matters, but I don’t know anyone who worked at Apple who wouldn’t have traded the Mac market share for the Windows market share. Market share excites investors every bit as much, probably more, than short-term financial stock manipulation games that Apple has now decided to play.
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/04/30/idc-phones-1q14/
But that is what they are used to with Windows so, it’s all good!
Infested, dejected and defected – Stolen in whole but not in soul, Android is so inferior.
Have you listened to “Hair” lately?
Look, Google and Samsung Android is winning again!!!
Windows phone 0 new malware threats? it seems that WP is being ignored even by malware developers
Must be that old “obscurity” thing…..
The fact that there are threats to jailbroken iPhones (and have been since early on) destroys the nonsense, but incessantly repeated, myth of “Macs don’t get viruses because they have a smaller market share”.
Jailbroken phones don’t count at all as they’re not supported by Apple
Android settlers ought to file a class-action lawsuit against Google.
Much as I’d love to see such a lawsuit, nobody forced them to buy, and there is PLENTY of negative information out there if they did any research.
Killjoy 😉
Research? The average consumer does research???
What do the trolls have to say for themselves now ?
” We ain’t nothing but a hound dog, ridden with fleas!”
Interesting how these reports tend to gloss over that most Android users that usually settle for the ‘cheaper’ phones tend not to know enough to remove the default setting that allows access to ONLY the Google Play store. As such those users will not see even 0.5% of reported malware as reported in a prior F-Secure article. With greater freedom comes greater responsibility.
Look, I’m a troll, falderol!
In the section titled “WHAT YOU CAN DO,” it gives advice in six categories. Nowhere does it say the obvious, get an non-jailbroken iPhone.
Well, I’m speechless! 😉