Phil Schiller on Android Security: “Be Safe Out There”
According to a report from CNET, Apple’s Marketing Chief Phil Schiller took to twitter to voice his opinion on F-Secure Labs’ latest quarterly Mobile Threat report. Schiller tweet warned users to “be safe out there.”
The report (PDF) highlighted that malware on Google’s Android is on the increase.
According to the report:
[quote] Android malware has been strengthening its position in the mobile threat scene. Every quarter, malware authors brings forth new threat families and variants to lure more victims and to update on the existing ones. In the fourth quarter alone, 96 new families and variants of Android threats were discovered, which almost doubles the number recorded in the previous quarter. A large portion of this number was contributed by Premium SMS—a family of malware that generates profit through shady SMS-sending practices—which unleashed 21 new variants.
Quite a number of Android malware employs an operation similar to Premium SMS. It is a popular method for making direct monetary profit. The malware quietly sends out SMS messages to premium rate numbers or signs up the victims to an SMS-based subscription service. Any tell-tale messages or notifications from these numbers and/ or services will be intercepted and deleted; therefore, the users will be completely unaware of these activities until the charges appear on their bills.[/quote]
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