The Lookout Blog

App Genome Report February 2011: Growth, Maturation and New Threats

Today we released the second report from our App Genome Project, a dataset created to map more than 500,000 mobile apps across different device platforms and app markets.   The App Genome Project is an ongoing effort to provide visibility into mobile market dynamics, gain insight into how mobile apps access personal data and sensitive capabilities on mobile devices, and identify security threats in the wild.

From the latest round of App Genome analysis, it is clear that the Android Market is rapidly maturing. This emerging market has seen a tremendous increase in the number of new apps available in the market — a 127% growth in the number of apps since August 2010 — and three times that of the Apple App Store. Plus the proportion of paid apps increased dramatically as well.  To see interactive graphs and the full report click here.

We also analyzed specific alternative app markets for both Android and iOS. As one might expect, that while these markets increase users’ access to apps, some also have a higher number of apps that could be repackaged with malware or illegitimate ad code. Repackaged applications found on the Android  alternative markets can serve as vectors for illegitimate activities, whether it’s ad fraud (the inclusion of illegitimate ad code), piracy or malicious activities like bundling malware.  HongTouTou (also known as ADRD), the most recent piece of Android malware disclosed yesterday, and Geimini are both examples of legitimate applications that were repackaged with malware.

As the overall app ecosystem continues to evolve with the addition of new alternative app markets and continued growth in the competing platforms, we expect to see an increasing number of threats to privacy and security. Stay tuned for regular updates to the App Genome Project to track how the mobile app market continues to change.