Anyone developing malicious software for mobile devices has set his or her sights almost exclusively on Android at this point. Mobile security vendor NQ has found that Android devices infected with malware grew from 10.8 million in 2011 to 32.8 million in 2012, meaning that the total number of infected devices tripled year-over-year. NQ also found that almost 95% of malware detected in 2012 was designed specifically for Android devices, meaning Google’s mobile operating system is by far the No. 1 target for would-be cybercriminals.
But as InfoWorld’s Brian Katz notes, none of this means that Android users in the United States have all that much to worry about since most mobile malware infections occur in China, India and Russia. What’s more, Katz writes that the vast majority of mobile malware can be avoided if Android users “download apps only from known sources” such as Google Play and the Amazon app store.
