A new report suggests that Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone is more “vulnerable” to attacks than Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry (BBRY) smartphones. According to a study from SourceFire, the vast majority of all mobile phone vulnerabilities that have been discovered so far have been found in Apple’s smartphones. The firm found 210 vulnerabilities in the iPhone, giving iOS an 81% share of known mobile phone vulnerabilities, while Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices combined to have a 19% market share.
Yves Younan, a senior research engineer at SourceFire’s Vulnerabilities Research Team and author of the report, revealed to ZDNet that the results were “surprising.” He added that it was also “interesting” because Apple has continued to implement additional security features in new versions of iOS.
He explained that while Android may have the highest overall mobile market share, iPhones are still one of the most popular smartphones among consumers and cybercriminals are motivated to find loopholes in the operating system. Younan noted that because Google’s (GOOG) platform is already open and vulnerable to third-party and malicious apps in its Google Play store, cybercriminals are less motivated to seek out software vulnerabilities.
