Android Viruses Run Rampant, 472 Percent Rise in Four Months
Android users have been bombarded with new viruses and malware over the last few months.
According to a recent study by the Juniper Global Threat Center, Google’s Android platform experienced a 472 percent increase in malware since July 2011, with 281 percent of the growth occurring in the last two months.
The instances of malicious software is not the only rising issue, though. Also becoming more prevalent are the types of viruses developers' create.
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Earlier this year, Juniper detected a particular kind of malware that can run in the background and install more harmful programs without the user’s consent.
Apparently, discovery of this virus type is widespread, as they account for 90 percent of all Android viruses today.
Malware developers are exploiting the lack of security in Google’s approach to their applications. To create destructive software for Android platforms, all a developer needs is the expertise and $25. From there, a programmer could create applications anonymously with false descriptions, and watch their program be downloaded repeatedly.
In contrast, Apple’s App Store is virtually impossible to hack, because the California technology giant established stringent standards for every program. Many developers complain that Apple has the right to demand changes in an app, or even remove it from the store altogether. The benefit, however, is very little malware on the iPhone.
Most Android operating system viruses have one of two goals: to make the developer money; or, to simply destroy the phone’s processes. Although the latter is more common with 55 percent of Android malware, the former is more costly.
Trojan SMS malware allows an application to be hidden, and then send text messages to a premium rate number, most likely owned by the programmer. Once sent, the money cannot be recovered, because everything is anonymously done and it is very hard to catch those who committed the offense.
Still, Juniper has an idea of who is behind the sudden jump in destructive software.
The networking company suggested these developers are the same people who wrote malware for Windows Mobile phones. Moving to Android would benefit them greatly, as Windows phones represent a much smaller market share than Google’s platform.
Many of these dangerous apps are undoubtedly lurking in the Android market right now, but they can be removed if discovered. The problem is that many consumers will download them before that happens.
