Owners of smartphones and tablet PCs with an Android operating system are being increasingly targeted by malware authors, according to the G Data Malware Report. Analyses of the second half of 2012 show that Android malware variants hit almost 140,000 by the end of the year. On average, a new Android malware strain appears every two minutes.
As far as vectors, the perpetrators have been mainly relying on trojan horses and tried and tested e-crime strategies, G Data noted. This involves using manipulated copies of known apps and applications with apparently legitimate functions, such as those claiming to be weather apps.
"Over the last few months, Android malware has become an e-crime growth market; we are constantly recording new variants of malicious apps,” said Ralf Benzmüller, head of G Data Security Labs. “However, the perpetrators are not only relying on spreading malicious apps, but are increasingly trying to integrate infected devices into botnets. This turns smartphones into spam machines.”
Going forward, G Data expects that near-field communications (NFC) technologies will be targeted. More and more smartphones are equipped with NFC chips for mobile and contactless payment. Online criminals will therefore start to focus on NFC technology as a new attack vector to steal data and money, the firm reasoned.
Meanwhile, while business with Android malware is booming, the growth of new PC malware has slowed. Also, on the PC front, the perpetrators are using less mass malware and are focusing mainly on highly complex, intelligent malware instead. During the second half of the year, G Data Security Labs discovered a total of 1,258,479 new malware programs, which is 123,000 fewer programs than in the first half of the year. G Data believes that the cybercriminals are focusing their malware code production on clever and sophisticated malware, instead of mass produced malware as in the past. Overall, the German provider's security experts recorded 2,640,446 new malware programs.
In total, more than 2.6 million new malware strains for Windows systems were discovered in 2012.
"The growth of PC malware, on the other hand, has stagnated for the second time in a row,” said Benzmüller. “Criminals are increasingly focusing on developing sophisticated and complex malware, which is significantly more dangerous and can cause more damage."
Trojan horses in particular are very popular with criminals and they continue to be the top malware category. 99.8% of malware discovered targets Windows computers and their users.