Report: 99 Percent of New Mobile Threats Target Android 269
MojoKid writes: "Google's open source Android platform has the distinction of being the most popular mobile operating system in the world. That's great in terms of dominating the market and reaping the rewards that come with it, but it's also for that very reason that Android finds itself the target of virtually every new mobile malware threat that emerges. According to data published in F-Secure's latest Mobile Threat Report (PDF), over 99 percent of the new mobile threats it discovered in the first quarter of 2014 targeted Android users. To be fair, we're not taking about hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands, or thousands of malware threats — F-Secure detected 277 new threat families, of which 275 honed in on Android."
Re:Market Share (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course Apple used to be the market share leader. But Android also had most malware back then too.
It has nothing to do with market share. It's about security. The difference is a single curated market for Apple, vs multiple markets and no curation for Android.
Re:Market Share (Score:5, Insightful)
no curation for Android
Untrue. By default you have Play, Google's curated app store. You can install other app stores or side load, but the default is just Play.
With great power comes great responsibility and all that. Besides which Apple's App Store isn't devoid of malware either, it's just a different kind of malware. My girlfriend is Chinese and there are a lot of Chinese apps, presumably not even visible in the western version of the store, that look extremely iffy. They ask you for random personal details, direct you to nasty looking web sites, and have masses of rip-off in-app purchases and pay-to-win scenarios.
You realise if an Apple user tried to spin that line in a story where 99% of malware was targeted at iOS they would be down modded into the ground, right?
"Here's tangible, documented proof of 99% of malware being on Android, but hey, some Chinese apps on iOS 'look a bit suspicious' so Apple is bad too!"
Laughable. Truly laughable.
Re:Market Share (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple was never the market share leader. [androidheadlines.com] The press just fawns over them like they were/are.
Re:secure from what? (Score:4, Insightful)
Obviously if you restrict yourself to the Google Play store it is very much the same thing as using an iOS device which is restricted to the Apple App Store. But that negates the biggest advantage of Android.
Say you restrict yourself to Google Play Store, Amazon Appstore, Humble Bundle, F-Droid, and applications you compiled yourself. Is the advantage still negated? In my opinion, the advantage of Android's "Unknown sources" and "adb install" model is 1. compiling apps yourself without having to replace your desktop computer and pay a recurrring fee, and 2. ability of third-party app stores to build a reputation for quality control.