Q3 2013: mobile malware on the rise, 97% targets Android

According to Mobile Threat Report from F-Secure, in Q3 2013, around 259 total mobile threat families and variants have been detected across the popular mobile OSs, with 252 of them being found on Android. The remaining 7 are found on Nokias aging Symbian OS, while no threats have been reported for iOS, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone.

The threat breakdown consists primarily of Trojans (more than 90% of all threats), the largest percentage of which are targeted at mobile banking. A large majority of mobile banking trojans are of the SMSSpy variety, which aim to intercept SMS messages sent from banks in the form of secondary or two-step authentication of user credentials or online transactions.

SMSSpy differs from other malware families as it does not descend from a single identifiable code source, and as such is more difficult to identify and intercept. F-Secure has also detected a rising count of PUAs (Potentially Unwanted Applications), which include undesirable or unwanted functionality, or inadvertently introduce security risks.

According to the source, a way for malware to find its way onto your device is by physically accessing your device, which is why locking your device or protecting it with an Anti-theft solution is recommended.

F-Secure, founded in 1988, is a security as a service through operators provider. By delivering software as a service, F-Secure enables companies to focus on their business priorities, without having to maintain the expertise and technology to cope with online threats.