It’s another sad day for Fandroids (Android fanboys) today as a new report from security researchers at Lookout Mobile security suggests that the platform is plagued with malware and security risks galore.
The latest findings from Lookout Mobile Security suggest that authors of malware are increasingly attacking Google’s Android platform as their first foray into the world of digital crime, while their research did not detect a single instance of malware running Apple’s iOS platform.
As mobile devices become more popular, especially specific platforms, the incentive for attacking those devices also increases. What’s curious is that, considering how immensely popular the iPhone is, Android is getting hit with virtually all of the attacks.
The research indicates that as many as one million users were hit with mobile malware in the first half of this year. Further, Android users are now over two times more likely to be affected by malware than they were six months ago.
This is a particularly clear case of how Android’s supposedly open platform can cause security risks (another reason why Android still poses no lasting risk to iOS), and can make the platform much easier to attack. Curiously, however, even jailbroken iPhones, which would technically be “open”, still did not seem to have any reported cases of malware infection.
Perhaps Google’s failed attempt at appearing to be an open platform has simply given Google an excuse to be lax on security?