Russia number one target for global mobile malware in 2013; consumer finances most at risk

Russian mobile users suffered most from malware attacks last year, according to the most recent global mobile threat landscape analysis conducted by Kaspersky Lab, the leading Russian IT security company.

With 40% of all of its unique mobile users attacked last year, Russia far outpaced India (8%), Vietnam (4%), Ukraine (4%) and the United Kingdom (3%) in Kaspersky Lab’s Top Five group of the most unfortunate.

Android continued to be the most vulnerable of the platforms currently used, a target for 98.1% of all mobile malware detected in 2013, the Russian company emphasized. “Approximately 4 million malicious applications were used by cybercriminals to distribute mobile malware for Android-based devices. A total of 10 million malicious Android apps were detected in 2012-2013,” concluded the Kaspersky study.

Culprits increasingly targeted consumer finances in 2013, an alarming trend that saw the number of mobile malware modifications designed for phishing and theft of bank card information and money from bank accounts skyrocket between January and December “by a factor of almost 20.” Kaspersky Lab says it dealt with “2,500 attempted infections by banking Trojans” in that period.

“Nearly 100,000 new malicious programs for mobile devices were detected in 2013, which is more than double the 2012 figure of 40,059 samples,” the Russian company reported.

According to Victor Chebyshev, a virus analyst at Kaspersky, banking Trojan attacks predominantly targeted users in Russia and the CIS last year. Change may be down the road, however: “Given cybercriminals’ keen interest in consumer bank accounts,” added Chebyshev, “the activity of mobile banking Trojans is expected to grow in other countries in 2014.”

Topics: Cybersecurity, Data & Reports, International, Mobile & Telecom, Mobile content
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