In its Threat Intelligence Report for 2017, Nokia has reported the rates of malware infection for mobile devices for the first three quarters of 2017 and found that Apple’s iOS continues to be the most secure operating system. The iPhone is part of the remaining 3.54% of all devices successfully targeted by malware.
Nokia says that, despite the efforts of Google to secure the Android app eco-system with Google Play Protect, Android remains the main target for mobile malware with 68% of the occurrences. Nokia attributes this to the prevalence of side-loading apps from third party app stores and other sources.
The report says that many people are surprised to find that Windows/PCs are responsible for a large portion of the malware infections detected when analyzing mobile network traffic. These Windows/PCs are connected to the mobile network using USB dongles and mobile Wi-Fi devices or simply tethered through smartphones.
They’re responsible for 28% of the malware infections observed. According to Nokia, this is because these devices are still a popular target for professional cybercriminals who have a huge investment in the Windows malware ecosystem. However, as the smartphone becomes the more preferred platform for accessing the internet, cybercrime is clearly moving in that direction.
