Cybercriminals know the value of popular mobile apps, and in 2014 they cloned 97% of paid apps available in online stores for Android and 87% for the iOS operating system. The cloning was of course done to package malware. The information comes from a study conducted by the company Arxan Technology. [su_box title=”Author’s Note” box_color=”#ff3300″ radius=”1″]Before looking at the numbers and data listed by the company, let’s add that the sample size of the study is small, which makes it very likely that the results are not indicative of what is really happening.
We should also add that the infographic that you will see below serves the company's purposes well.[/su_box]
Although the numbers are quite high, in the case of Android devices there is an improvement compared to the previous year, as well as the year before.
For iOS, the report is more disappointing, as 2014 has seen an increase of 31%, indicating the growing interest among users of Apple's operating system.
To conduct the research, Arxan Technology downloaded 100 paid apps for both platforms and searched for cloned apps on third-party online stores, as well as various distribution and torrent sites.
The research also included 20 popular apps that are available for free.
The results are quite worrying, as you will see for yourself in the infographic created by the company.
It should be mentioned that jailbroken Apple devices are always at greater risk. Therefore, be careful about the software you download for your device. Installing software from untrusted sources should be avoided. The same goes for Android devices.
See the infographic
