Malware attacks on Android users up 600% - Kaspersky

 

More than 588,000 Android users worldwide were attacked by financial malware between August 2013 and July 2014, six times the amount from the previous 12-month period.

 

According to the recent Mobile CyberThreats survey, 60% of attacks registered by Kaspersky Lab security products used malware that specifically targeted financial information on Android users’ devices. The survey was conducted by INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization) and Kaspersky Lab.

 

“During the past few years, we have witnessed the rise of mobile cyber threats which have become more complex and intelligent enough to target specific entities. With the mobile market growing exponentially, it is clearer that these threats are mutating to include new attack vectors allowing the exploitation of personal smart devices,” said Madan Oberoi, Director of Cyber Innovation & Outreach at INTERPOL’s Global Complex for Innovation.

 

Out of all the attacks, 57.08% involved programs from the Trojan SMS malware family, and 1.98% involved Trojan-Banker malware. Combining the two malware programs would enable a hacker to steal bank card information along with usernames and passwords used in online banking.

 

“A successful Trojan-Banker infection can give a fraudster access to all of the victim’s money, while a Trojan-SMS needs to infect dozens or even hundreds of devices to show a worthwhile profit. In addition, not all owners currently use mobile online banking applications. That’s why there is such a difference in the number of Trojan-SMS and Trojan-Banker attacks registered by our products,” said Roman Unuchek, senior virus analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

 

Kaspersky Lab experts found that the number of mobile malware modifications grew from 423 in August 2013 to 5,967 in July 2014. Modifications are slightly altered versions of existing malware that are possibly less noticeable to antivirus programs.

 

Fraudsters mostly targeted Russian users; they were on the receiving end 64.42% of Trojan SMS attacks and 90.58% of Trojan-Banker attacks.

 

In comparison, the other countries mentioned in the study suffered a relatively small number of attacks. Kazakhstan suffered 5.71% of the Trojan SMS attacks, Ukraine 3.32%, Spain 3.19%, the UK 3.02%, Vietnam 2.41%, Malaysia 2.3%, Germany 2%, India 1.55%, and France 1.32%.

 

Other findings of Kaspersky Lab’s survey can be found on SecureList.com. — Bea Montenegro/TJD, GMA News