Nokia has released a report which shows that smartphones now account for 60% of infections in the mobile network with iOS-based malware appearing on the top 20 list for first time with XcodeGhost and FlexiSpy. Android malware more than doubled in last six months of 2015. Craig Young, cybersecurity researcher for Tripwire have the following comments on it.
[su_note note_color=”#ffffcc” text_color=”#00000″]Craig Young, Cybersecurity Researcher at Tripwire :
“The consolidation of personal data on smartphones has made them a natural target for malware campaigns. While trusted app stores do a lot to reduce exposure to malware, examples of apps slipping past vendor review processes is not hard to come by. In recent months we have learned about thousands of xcodeghost infected applications as well as the zerghelper malware finding clever ways to make it into the official Apple app store. This is rather significant as the previous noteworthy examples of malware making its way into the app store came from university research and hacker conventions. On android we have also recently seen the so called Brain Test malware reappear on Google’s Play Store. Generally though most malware on both platforms does not come through the main app stores. On iOS, much of the malware is being signed with enterprise keys which can be purchased by a malicious author on the underground market for about $800 or simply used to sign a single app for just a few dollars. On Android, anyone can sign an app without special requirements other than that the phone will have a major security feature disabled.
Consumers who want to avoid infection are well advised to be contentious about installing apps. On Android this means sticking to the Google Play Store without enabling apps from “unknown” sources and to install one of the many antivirus apps. While antivirus is disallowed on iOS, users should steer clear of jailbreaking and should not accept enterprise certificates outside of their organization.”[/su_note]
[su_box title=”About Tripwire” style=”noise” box_color=”#336588″]
Tripwire is a leading provider of advanced threat, security and compliance solutions that enable enterprises, service providers and government agencies to confidently detect, prevent and respond to cybersecurity threats. Tripwire solutions are based on high-fidelity asset visibility and deep endpoint intelligence combined with business-context and enable security automation through enterprise integration. Tripwire’s portfolio of enterprise-class security solutions includes configuration and policy management, file integrity monitoring, vulnerability management and log intelligence.[/su_box]
