Privacy theft via malware is plaguing the Android world, with 62% of infected devices being used as conduits for data exfiltration.
“It is widely, but mistakenly, believed that malware does not cause serious problems beyond slowing down a mobile phone and possibly crashing a device,” said Yan Huang, COO of 360 Mobile Security, which released the results in its Q2 2015 Malware and Vulnerability Report.
"The truth is, however, that mobile malware attacks are improving in sophistication and exploiting vulnerabilities, which can not only compromise sensitive data, but also lead to identity theft and serious financial loss."
Of the infected devices on the US market, more than half (62%) were infected with privacy-stealing malware, which appears to compromise sensitive data such as contacts, locations, images and login credentials. By stealing sensitive data from mobile devices, hackers can gain access to a user’s financial data, enabling them to blackmail the user, or simply sell the data on the black market.
In comparison, 13% of exposed devices in the US were infected with malicious adware, and 11% with expense malware, which involves unauthorized spending, typically leveraging existing installed apps on mobile devices.
360 Mobile Security said that exactly 81.2% of devices running Android 4.4 and below have been exposed to TowelRoot. It's worth noting that a successful exploitation of a Linux bug within the Android operating system could give an attacker complete access to a victim's phone. This kind of access could potentially allow the same attacker to execute further malicious code, retrieve files and data on the device, and bypass third-party or enterprise security applications.
According to IDC, vendors shipped a total of 334.4 million smartphones worldwide in the first quarter of 2015, and Android dominates the market with a 78% share. It’s no wonder that more than 97% of mobile malware targets Android devices, while iOS malware holds less than 1% of the market share.
It's important to keep in mind the scale of the problem, though. The company also found that the overall infection rate is low: About one in 100 mobile devices (1.4%) in the global market. In contrast, only 0.2% of mobile devices in the US market were infected with malware in Q2.
This difference is due to the fact that this global number includes devices in regions, such as South Asia, where people download apps from untrusted stores outside of Google Play.
