Android Malware Epidemic - Best Tips to Avoid It on Your Smartphone

By Simon Saavedra, Christian Post Correspondent Sunday, November 20, 2011

With reports on the number of malware software reaching alarming figures and growing at exponential rates throughout the Android platform, users of the most popular mobile operating system may start feeling concerned about this growing epidemic.

Malware is used not only to spy on the mobile device user, but it is also used to steal sensitive information that may compromise one's personal information including e-mails, bank accounts, etc.

A common form of malware on Android devices is the SMS Trojan. This form of malware sends premium-rate SMS message proceeds to a number related to the intruder, money that is not recoverable later on.

With the rate of growth of such threats directly related to the rate of Android activations, some 550,000 devices per day according to Google, far from being over, it seems that this epidemic is just entering its beginning phase.

If switching to another mobile platform implies too much of a loss or sacrifice, make sure you take some measures to protect yourself and your phone from malicious software.

Don't install apps recklessly. Download apps from sources that are trusted such as the Android Market and Amazon Appstore.

Perform thorough research. Before installing an app on your device, do some research by reading reviews from developers who have used the app. Then double check by reading what the masses are saying in various forums.

Install and anti-virus/anti-malware app. Some recommendations: Lookout, Zoner, Norton, Kaspersky.

Don't know what an app does? Then don't install it. Avoid installing apps that are new to the scene. Allow some time to pass to have some user knowledge/comments about it to be gathered before trusting and finally installing it.