Another Reason I Will Never Own an Android Phone

[wickedsolo]

Does anyone actually know someone who has gotten maleware on their smart phone? I don't. So 93% percent of smart phone maleware may be on Android, but I think the interesting number would be to see what percent of all smart phone users have experienced a maleware attack. I can't seem to find anything, only that "attacks have risen 600%", which in actuality means very little if only 1% of smart phones users experienced malware attacks. Also, malware attacks on smart phones are insanely easy to prevent. Don't follow links in text messages from wierd numbers, and don't always have your wifi turned on, and I would guess that pretty much eliminates the chances of your phone being infected.

Well, unfortunately Sirdowski, I know quite a few who have had their mobile devices compromised. However, I don't believe I am a good one to use for a litmus test as I work in the field of cyber security and I work closely with folks like Symantec, F-Secure, Akamai, etc.

You are right and wrong that malware on smart phones is easy to prevent. In most cases, yes, it is easy to prevent if someone is looking out for that type of thing. However, how many mobile device users in the entire world think about mobile malware? I mean, there is a reason why Nigerian scammers are so successful when it comes to the ridiculous email scams that they send to people (e.g. "Help me transfer this money into your bank account and I'll give you X% of it!"). If it didn't work, they wouldn't do it.

That said, there is a lot of malware out there that can compromise someone's smart phone just from them visiting a website. There isn't anything you can do about someone else's website being compromised with an exploit kit designed to exploit vulnerabilities on a phone (or computer). The only way to figure that out is after the compromise has already happened and even in some cases the malware developers are very sophisticated and are able to run the malware behind other regular processes on the phone so any AV or IDS system may not even catch it.

In any case, this isn't just a matter of android being a vulnerable Operating system:

Android as an operating system is just as safe as iOS- actually safer, as the article stated, it has less vulnerabilities than iOS- the issue is Android as an Ecosystem. Too many people are running dated versions of android that are no longer supported, and hence are a playground for hackers. This comes down to the Carriers and their inability to roll out updates to their customers, since they want control over updates. So in actuality, if you are running the latest OS of android, you are actually safer than if you are running iOS. Fortunately Android is open source and if your tech savy enough (which it really isn't difficult, just watch a couple YouTube videos) you can say screw the carriers, and find the latest update for yourself.

http://www.veracode.com/blog/2013/04...-get-attacked/

The 93% of all mobile malware impacting Android is a bit misleading in some regards, but the fact is that Android-based platforms are less expensive than a lot of Apple products and (globally) are more popular. Cybercriminals are going to target what the most people have. Even though Apple's OS may be more vulnerable, it is far easier to compromise Android users simply because there is a higher probability of getting to an Android user than an Apple user. That's just economics.

Using third party vendors is probably one of the easiest ways to get popped with a malicious app. So, if you want to watch a couple of YouTube vids and go download some apps from third party vendors that don't adhere to the same security standards that Google Play and/or Apple Store do, then by all means. It's your phone. I wouldn't recommend it though.

PS enjoy the new iOS 7, it's flat out terrible.

Thank you. I will. I just got rid of a Motorola X2. Couldn't stand it. Apple makes a superior product.

I have a co worker that had two Andriods totally shut down on them thanks to Malware.

They don't vet apps woth as much scrutiny as Apple.

There is some really nasty malware out there and it isn't stuff that only non-tech folks fall for.

In May some malicious hackers exploited the website belonging to Federal News Radio in what we refer to as a "drive by download attack" (sometimes also referred to as a wateringhole...but those are more targeted). All someone had to do was visit the FNR website and they stood a good chance of getting compromised depending on their operating system (Windows) and the browser they were using (Internet Explorer). About a month later (after the PRISM leaks surfaced) another group of hackers did a similar style of attack using an actual PRISM article and posted it on the Washington Free Beacon's website. To make matters worse, Drudge Report (without knowing it) linked to that very PRISM article on the Free Beacon. Now, Free Beacon only averages maybe 1500 website views per day, but Drudge Report is much more.