Recent data posted by the security firm trustGo has stated between September 2011 and September 2012, the number of malware applications available on the play store has increased by 580%, the data also states that 150 million downloads from the top 500 applications on the google play store have malware hidden in the application.
Should android users be afraid of these statistics? Often when users are browsing the play store they don’t consider whether the application that they might be about to install may contain a virus or malware. So what can be done about preventing the installation of malware on on your Android device?
- Firstly download a free anti-virus/malware application. I have been using Lookout.
- Secondly read the comments of that application, if an application contains a virus or malware it is highly likely users will leave a warning in the comments.
- Thirdly ensure the application you are going to install has the appropriate permissions for what the application should be doing.
For a more detailed article regarding the results found by trustGo, take a look at the article by The Next Web, or check out our previous interview with Aman Chand from Trend Micro.
[appaware-app pname=’com.lookout’ qrcode=’true’ users=’0′]
Written by people with no idea how to communicate statistics – doesn’t make me think much of the company. How do they even define malware in the android security context – surely only apps that break through their requested permissions can count?
Again, why should we listen to the fear-mongering of a company that has a financial incentive to make us afraid?
Thanks for this post!
Ive been thinking about phone security more these days and this article galvanised me into downloading a program (Lookout).