McAfee: Mobile Malware Authors Only Care about Android

Posted 11/21/2011 at 8:34am | by Paul Lilly

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Success always comes at a cost, and for Google's immensely popular open source Android platform, success has attracted the attention of malware writers. In fact, Android is again the most targeted mobile platform on the planet by malware authors, and during a time when mobile malware growth is at an all-time high, according to McAfee's Third-Quarter Threats Report for 2011.

This is the second quarter in a row Android has been the most popular platform for mobile malware, and it became the exclusive platform for all new mobile malware in Q3, McAfee says. Symbian, which is home to the greatest number of malware, appears to no longer be on the bad guys' radar.

In terms of types of mobile malware, malicious authors continue to favor premium-rate SMS-sending Trojans that sign up victims to subscription services. Maliciously modified apps are also popular, and so is a new method that involves recording phone calls.

"Two examples are Android/NickiSpy.A and Android/GoldenEagle.A, both of which record user conversations and forward them to the attacker," McAfee explains. "Attackers can’t be sure that the first one or two calls have the information they seek, so these malware remain on the devices for extended periods without being detected; that’s a very persistent threat indeed!"

Mobile malware as a whole is on target to exceed last year's and become the busiest year ever. In the grand scheme of things, the numbers are comparatively small with what's floating around on the desktop, but they're also steadily climbing. McAfee noted around 600 mobile malware samples in the first quarter of 2009, a number that has now risen to more than twice as much with some 1,300 samples.

You can read the full report here (PDF).