Android phone users may be on the brink of a major malware epidemic, according to a recent report from Juniper Networks that has received considerable media attention. Since this past July, the number of malware threats on Android phones has increased 472%, according to the report. Juniper blames the growth on Google's hands-off approach to policing Android apps. According to Juniper, "all you need is a developer account that is relatively easy to anonymize, pay $25 and you can post your applications. With no upfront review process, no one checking to see that your application does what it says, just the world’s largest majority of smartphone users skimming past your application’s description page with whatever description of the application the developer chooses to include." Even if an app is eventually discovered to have malicious intent, thousands of people may have downloaded it before it is removed from the store.
Not so fast, says Chris DiBona, Google's manager of open-source programs. "Virus companies are playing on your fears to try to sell you bs protection software for Android, RIM, and iOS. They are charlatans and scammers." DiBona claims that the few instances of malware that are out there for Androids are pretty rudimentary and nowhere near comparable to what is out there on Windows machines. Safeguards in the basic Android design will keep the overall threat level low. As for the eye-popping statistical growth of threats, it's an artifact of numbers that are miniscule. If there was one instance of Android malware at the beginning of the measurement period and six instances a month later, that would be a 500% increase, but the total threat would still be insignificant.
To decide for yourself whether to be concerned, read the two original articles:
Mobile Malware Development Continues to Rise, Android Leads The Way
Mobile Malware Crisis? Not So Fast
No comments:
Post a Comment