Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Study finds 80% of smartphones still aren’t protected from malware

Published Oct 14th, 2013 10:30PM EDT
Mobile Malware Study

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

As smartphones and tablets powered by mobile operating systems continue to take over the world, malware makers see nothing by dollar signs. Reports of malware targeting smartphones continue to pop up constantly and Android is a particular focus since its ecosystem isn’t controlled as tightly as iOS or Windows Phone. This is a big problem, of course, since Android happens to also be the most popular mobile platform on the planet. There are already plenty of tools offered by various companies to help protect mobile devices from malware and other security issues, but a new study from Juniper Research has found that 80% of smartphones remain unprotected from Malware attacks. The good news, however, is that Juniper sees things changing for the better over time — according to the firm’s projections, about 1.3 billion mobile devices will have mobile malware protection installed by 2018, up from 325 million in 2013.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.