The amount of malware targeted at Android
devices jumped nearly 37 percent since last quarter. The year 2011 will be on
track to become the busiest in mobile and general malware history.
Nearly all new mobile malware in Q3 was
targeted at Android.
“This has been a very steady quarter in
terms of threats, as both general and mobile malware are more prevalent than
ever,” said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs.
“So far this year, we’ve seen many
interesting yet challenging trends that are affecting the threat landscape,
including heightened levels of sophistication and high-profile hacktivist
attacks,” Weafer added.
At the end of 2010, McAfee Labs predicted
that malware would reach the 70 million unique samples by the end of 2011.
Because of the rapid proliferation of malware this year, McAfee Labs has
increased this prediction to 75 million unique malware samples reached by
year’s end, the busiest in malware history.
Malware authors are capitalizing on the
popularity of Android devices, as demonstrated by the fact that the Android
platform was the only mobile operating system for all new mobile malware in Q3.
