“McAfee, the virus scanning software that anyone who bought a Windows PC in the last however many years is likely familiar with, has released an alarming report on malware for mobile devices, and it doesn’t look so good for Google, but does for Apple,” Mark Knapp writes for Wall St. Cheat Sheet.
“McAfee’s report details a number of different backdoors, exploits, and spyware that allow attackers to access personal files on smartphones,” Knapp writes. “From there, the attackers have a wide range of actions they can take, from harvesting sensitive data to controlling the device entirely. This is not the kind of thing a user wants to happen, especially as devices are quite expensive and the data stored on them is increasing every year — even banking data is growing on smart devices, which would be dangerous in the wrong hands.”
Knapp writes, “This all is especially bad news for Google because the vast majority of the malware that McAfee found was on the Android operating system. Android was followed by Nokia’s Symbian, other mobile operating systems, and then Java ME. According to McAfee, Android made up ’97 percent of total mobile malware.’ This is a perfect case of ‘what’s bad for Google is good for Apple,’ because the McAfees results don’t even mention the word ‘Apple’ once, and there are no allusions to worms.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Smart buyers choose Apple products over poor imitations.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader ” JES42″ for the heads up.]
Related articles:
F-Secure: Android accounted for 96% of all mobile malware in Q4 2012 – March 7, 2013
comScore: Google’s Android, Samsung continue to lose U.S. share to Apple’s iOS, iPhone – March 6, 2013
World’s best-selling smartphone: Apple iPhone 5; iPhone 4S #2, third place Samsung Galaxy 3 brings up rear – February 20, 2013
Apple iOS dominates mobile video viewing with 60% share vs. Android’s 32% – February 13, 2013
Android’s Web share down 13% since November; Apple’s iOS now over 60% – February 1, 2013
Android’s unit share growth has not hurt Apple’s profit share – February 26, 2013
Apple iOS dominates mobile video viewing with 60% share vs. Android’s 32% – February 13, 2013
Android’s Web share down 13% since November; Apple’s iOS now over 60% – February 1, 2013
IDC: Apple dominates worldwide tablet market with 43.6% unit share – January 31, 2013
The Android engagement paradox – November 26, 2012
People buy more Android phone units and do less with them vs. Apple’s revolutionary iPhone – November 14, 2012
Study: iPhone users vastly outspent Android users on apps, respond much better to ads – August 20, 2012
Apple utterly dominates mobile device market with 6% market share – and 77% of the profits – August 6, 2012
Game over, Android: Apple owns 84% of mobile gaming revenue – May 7, 2012
Wealthy smartphone users more likely to have iPhones; less likely to play games, tweet – April 2, 2012
U.S. Apple product users split evenly between Republicans and Democrats; Half of U.S. households own at least one Apple product – March 28, 2012
Study: iPad users more likely to buy – and buy more – online than traditional PC users – September 29, 2011
Apple iPhone users most open to mobile payments – August 22, 2011
iPhone users smarter, richer, less conservative than Android phone users – August 16, 2011
Apple iPhone users spend significantly more on their credit cards than non-iPhone users – November 5, 2010
Study: Apple iPhone users richer, younger, more productive than other so-called ‘smartphone’ users – June 12, 2009
Nielsen: Mac users are better educated and make more money than PC users – July 12, 2002
It’s why I like the walled garden.
Agree. Others can complain all they want about the closed system, but it certainly buys peace of mind and security more than the others.
Imagine GM saying something useful and intelligent. What a wonderful day. Bravo!
Smart consumers (once bitten) buy quality.
The cost of buying in for $100 or $200 less has a much worse price to pay the first time a ‘problem’ erupts.
My iPhone is immune.
Too bad Boston wasn’t immune to the the incompetence of The Obama Failure.
What does Obama have to do with the explosions in Boston???
If Bush was president when these public bombings occurred on U.S. soil, Rachel Maddow would give virgin birth to an ice cream cake in a fit of ecstasy.
The rest of the brain-dead Libs/Dems/Progs would be reflexively blaming Bush or Sarah Palin within a nanosecond.
You filthy Libs/Dems/Progs reap what you sow.
Ain’t that the God’s honest truth!
Refresh my memory, now who was President in September 2001?
Who was the impeached U.S. president who passed on killing Osama Bin Laden in 1999?
TruthTeller…
Are you a idiot!!
BUSH WAS PRESIDENT, September 1 2001. — 9/11
9/11 for you, what the hell is your problem, BUSH WAS THE PRESIDENT, and he sat and read a book to school children while our country was under attack.
Anonymous twats like you, “TruthTeller,” like to pose as patriotic and concerned Americans. Then you show your true colors by posting despicable and utter crap like this? You sicken me to the core.
At least three innocent bystanders died today, one of them an 8 year old child. And you have the gall to play bullshit partisan politics? Who is the filthy asshole in this situation? Yeah, it’s you.
What we need are stricter laws on legal gun ownership and even higher taxes on the rapidly dwindling number of productive, job creating citizens left in the U.S.A.
You really are a complete dickhead.
Sent from the UK.
Bullseye hit, I see.
Sent from the USA (what’s left of it).
I’m sick of cretins like you always being politics into every damn article.
I bet people avoid you like the plague at any social gathering you attend.
That’s what I mean by calling you a dickhead, you dickhead.
Go get him, Rasta! Fwhatever is rotten to the core. It is a shame that he is a citizen. There are so many others in this world who are much more worthy.
You are the dickhead.
He is right on. The ultimate result, not entirely brought about by Obama but significantly advanced by Obama, will be that a smaller and smaller number of productive and therefore significantly taxed Americans are going to be supporting the entire country.
No David, he is the dickhead because once again he/she turns up and starts spouting politics on a technology site.
Absolutely pathetic and pointless. Just like politics.
Go to a different forum, David. We have heard all of this crap many times. This is an Apple forum. Go play politics somewhere else.
Fwhatever usually posts as a registered user. That is, perhaps, his only redeeming quality. With Republicans like the ones on this forum, the opposing parties don’t have to worry too much. People like Fwhatever are great at alienating others with their “message.”
This is what you get when you elect an incompetent, inexperienced, socialist agitator whose main focuses are playing golf and padding his bank account.
The Obama Mistake, indeed.
On a day like this, I wish we had a real president.
Days like this. Days like Benghazi.
You’re a fscking idiot and a pathetic human being for trying to further you political agenda in a completely unrelated article all while lacking any sensitivity to those injured in Boston… You should be ashamed as well as those agreeing with you
As if the Libs/Dems/Progs wouldn’t jump at the chance to blame a Republican president, just like they jumped at the chance to blame Sarah Palin for the Gabby Giffords shooting.
You Libs/Dems/Progs reap what you’ve sown.
Don’t give me that BS, you anonymous, cowardly cretin. Let’s meet up face-to-face to discuss this. I will help you to see the error of your ways.
Dear “The Obama Mistake” anonymous coward: This has to be one of the stupidest, most DESPERATE, exploitative, insensitive POS propaganda attempts I have EVER read. I am willing to bet you have pigs living in a burned out KIA in your front yard. 😯
Please attempt to get some basic level of education and comprehension regarding logical and rational communication. You are shameful and a detriment to my species, human trash, and so forth. Sheesh. 😛
Clearly, we need greatly expanded
gunpressure cooker control laws in order for us to all be “safe.”Nanny Obama will save us all, we just need to cede all of our hard fought liberties for which our American patriots gave their lives back in the late 1700s and for which our American patriots gave their lives to protect since then.
The world is a dangerous place. Government can’t protect you. Goverment can’t guarantee your health, regardless of how much they destroy the country and the economy to provide shit-grade “healthcare.”
The government is not your mommy. Guns don’t kill people. Pressure cookers don’t kill people. People kill people.
Smaller government, stronger military, and call terrorism “terrorism” when it’s obviosuly fscking terrorism. End the insidious cancer of political correctness. Protect the U.S. Constitution. Speak the truth. Stop devaluing life by murdering tens of millions of the unborn for convenience. These are the things that will save the USA and the world. Everything Obama and his ilk support and espouse leads to death in spirit and in reality.
You are SUCH a propagandist DICK. Just thought I’d reinforce that fact here at MDN.
“Android is a bad apple…”
please rephrase the title – it places a sense that Droid was allowed to be a clone of Apple… and as the eye scans quickly over the message – one reads BAD APPLE. Not good.
better would be…
‘Droid is bad copy of iOS’
‘Droid is rotten to the core’
‘Droid is a terrible seed’
Please allow me to adjust the headline to “Android is worst than shit”
That’s a really unfair statement.
There’s really no comparison between shit and Android.
After all, shit is good – even essential – for many things.
I enjoy a good hardy shit every day! The same cannot be said of Android.
This is why I get a monthly note from my bank in Bangkok, Thailand reminding me not to use an Android for my online banking. Part of the message:
“Dear Bualuang iBanking member
Please be aware of forged or false messages that may be sent to you via SMS or email claiming to be from the Bank in an attempt to extract your personal banking information…
For your own safety in making transactions on devices, namely, mobile phone, smartphone, tablet or PC, we strongly recommend that you:
Do not make financial transactions using any device with jail-broken (iOS) or rooted (Android) operating systems”
Chinese government got to love Android. Track their citizens every move and comment.
…Which may go a long way explaining exactly why the Chinese government attempted to go ape-shite on Apple this past month. Darn, no Big Mao surveillance of their citizens via iPhones (except of course identification via location tower triangulation, which is already occurring in the USA).
Android made up ’97 percent of total mobile malware.’
Considering the time period during which this has occurred: The growth rate of malware for Android is EXPONENTIAL. That’s a VERY bad thing.
And no, Google is NOT effectively controlling Android malware penetration via their Google Store. Not working!