It's no secret that the explosion of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets has also given risen to something much more pernicious—mobile malware. With more and more mobile computing devices out in the wild, the bad guys have been cooking up ways to compromise them for some time—in fact, PCMag once posited that 2010 might be dubbed "The Year of Mobile Malware."
The bad news is that it's gotten worse since early last year. In May, Juniper Networks and mobile security specialist BullGuard released a report suggesting that malware targeting Google's Android mobile operating system had quadrupled from June 2010 to January 2011 (of course, the possible targets for cybercriminals grew exponentially as well, with apps available on the Android Marketplace tripling from 80,000 to 300,000 between August 2010 and May 2011).
The threats, particularly for users of Android devices, are real and scary. A more recent study from Lookout Security reiterated the finding from Juniper and BullGuard that malware targeting Google's OS is indeed on the rise. Malware has been spotted that actually records phone calls on Android phones.
And it was recently reported that the international cybercrime ring known as ZeuS or ZBOT has created a variant of its bank information-stealing malware for Android mobile operating systems.
The good news is that there are things mobile device users can do to defend themselves, some of which we've listed here in our handy-dandy guide to protecting your Android phone from malware. And here's a list of 15 mobile security tools that you can install to keep the bad code out of your mobile device.
Now BullGuard has put together an equally useful infographic (below) that tracks the development of mobile malware and offers some tips on what to do about it. The convenience and freedom afforded to us by our mobile devices is wonderful—which makes it crucial that we keep them secure and well-defended.
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