Mobile Threats Continue Rampant Growth As Attackers Become More Entrepreneurial

Juniper Networks, the network innovation service provider, has released its third annual Mobile Threats Report showing the rapid growth and evolution of mobile malware into a profitable business for attackers. From March 2012 through March 2013, the Juniper Networks Mobile Threat Center (MTC) – the only threat center in the world devoted exclusively to mobile security research – found mobile malware threats growing at an exponential rate of 614 percent to 276,259 total malicious apps, demonstrating an exponentially higher cyber-criminal interest in exploiting mobile devices. Additionally, it is clear from developments in the threat landscape that malware writers are increasingly behaving like profit-motivated businesses when designing new attacks and malware distribution strategies. Attackers are maximising their return on investment by focusing 92 percent of all MTC detected threats at Android, which has a commanding share of the global smartphone market. According to analyst firm Canalys, Android devices accounted for 67.7 percent of all smartphones shipped in 2012 and is projected to ship more than 1 billion smartphones in 2017. Attackers are also leveraging loosely regulated third-party app marketplaces to distribute malware and more quickly get threats on the market. Click here for full story