Mobile attacks to become more sophisticated in coming years: reports Juniper Network

Juniper Networks Mobile Threat Center (MTC) has released its third annual Mobile Threats Report to show the rapid growth and evolution of mobile malware which demonstrated the higher cyber-criminal interest in exploiting mobile devices. The study revealed that mobile malware threats are growing at a rapid rate of 614 per cent to 276,259 total malicious apps.

Additionally, it is clear from developments in the threat landscape that malware writers are increasingly behaving like profit-motivated businesses when designing new attacks and malware distribution strategies. Attackers are maximizing their return on investment by focussing 92 per cent of all MTC detected threats at Android, which has a commanding share of the global smartphone market.

Michael Callahan, Vice-President of Global Product Marketing for the Security Business, Juniper Networks, said, With mobile malware on the rise and attackers becoming increasingly clever, we need better protection for mobile users and corporations. While on the one hand the OEMs, carriers and software vendors must collaborate to develop platforms that mitigate large threats, enterprises and government organizations need to take a comprehensive look at protecting their data and networks by adopting a holistic approach to mobile security.

The MTC report found that the malware for Android operating system has gone up since 2010 from 24 per cent to 92 per cent by March 2013. Almost three-fourths (73 per cent) of all known malware are FakeInstallers or SMS Trojans, which exploit holes in mobile payments to make a quick and easy profit. These threats trick people into sending SMS messages to premium-rate numbers set up by attackers.

In addition to malicious apps, Juniper Networks found free applications that could pose a risk of leaking corporate data on devices.