The Lookout Blog

Mobile Malware On the Rise

There are roughly 4.6 billion mobile phones in the world. Very few are protected from mobile malware or spyware, as there’s a common belief that no malware or spyware is being written for mobile platforms or that such platforms are somehow immune. That belief is false: not only is there malware or spyware for just about every smartphone platform, but we’ve also seen a significant increase in the prevalence of both occurring over the past few months. Mobile malware has existed for some time, but has mostly been isolated to Europe and Asia. Early mobile malware mostly affected Symbian and Java phones, typically relying on SMS, MMS, Bluetooth, or media cards in order to spread.

Today, smartphone usage is on a significant upswing. Because these devices have great web browsers, plenty of memory, and fast data connections, the growth of risky behavior—internet browsing, mobile banking, online shopping, email, and application downloading—has been explosive. This risky behavior is what provides both the incentive and the opportunity for attackers: there is something on your phone worth attacking and there’s a mechanism for the attack to occur.

Consider the suspicious mobile banking applications that were recently available in the Android Market. Because people are using their phones to access bank accounts, there is an incentive for attackers to strike and because people are downloading apps ten-at-a-time, there’s an opportunity for a non-reputable developer to put a malicious app in the market right next to Google Maps and Skype and attack a broad base of people.

Just like a PC, your phone is a powerful computing platform that can do many great things. Also like your PC, your phone has no built-in moral compass to decide what’s good or bad—it just follows instructions. With the increase in nefarious activity, you should take steps to protect your mobile phone experience: make sure you get your applications from a reputable download source, only download applications that are well known and well reviewed, and keep a password on your phone. Also, keep in mind that while we are seeing increased prevalence of mobile malware and spyware, it is still much more likely that your phone will be lost or stolen. Effective mobile security requires that you protect yourself on multiple fronts: the apps you download, your data, and your phone.