Android remains the most common target platform for malware developers but iOS is garnering increasing attention, according to a report.
PulseSecure’s latest ‘Mobile Threat Report’ reveals that 97 percent of malware targets the Android operating system, mainly due to the prevalence of Android as an operating system as well as differences between the Android and iOS app stores.
"Android applications continue to offer the lowest barrier to entry among all mobile device platforms currently available," the report comments.
"iOS and Android took two distinctly different approaches to their application stores. While Android began by cultivating an open ecosystem that would be largely policed by the Android community, Apple’s App Store was tightly controlled with an upfront review process and strict terms of service that made it difficult for malware developers to get their wares into the App Store."
However, the report also shows that iOS threats are on the rise. While threats to iOS such as iOS AppBuyer and iOS Xsser mRAT had traditionally only affected jail-broken devices, November 2014 was said to potentially mark a "new era in iOS malware", in which non-jailbroken devices were infected by a sophisticated Trojan.
It also highlighted the dangers of infection by tethering, where non-jailbroken iOS devices are infected by tethering to an infected Mac device. The "primitive" WireLurker, for example, affects Mac OS X machines then infilitrates iOS devices when they are connected via USB.
"2015 is certainly going to be a year when mobile device users begin to take device security seriously, because the attackers already have been," the report adds.
