Malware targeted at users’ money and bank cards topped the list of mobile threats, with over 2,500 banking Trojan infections prevented in 2013 alone, a new Kaspersky report has revealed.
The Russian security firm’s latest report via Securelist said several new malicious programmes customised for smartphones and tablets have more than doubled to about 100,000 malicious modifications last year.
Russian mobile users were mostly targetted with banking malware, accounting for 40% of attacked users, higher than India with 8%, Vietnam and Ukraine with 4% each and the UK (3%).
Kaspersky said in a statement: "However, this situation will not last long: given the cybercriminals’ interest in user bank accounts, the activity of mobile banking Trojans is expected to grow in other countries in 2014.
Android was highly targeted via malicious attacks, with 98.05% of all malware detected aimed at this platform.
The majority of mobile malwares are used to pinch users’ money, including SMS-Trojans, and several other backdoors and Trojans.
The top 10 mobile threats detected in 2013 include DangerousObject.Multi.Generic (40.42%), Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.OpFake.bo (21.77%), AdWare.AndroidOS.Ganlet.a (12.40%), Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakeInst.a (10.37%), RiskTool.AndroidOS.SMSreg.cw (8.80%), Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.Agent.u (8.03%), Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.OpFake.a (5.49%), Trojan.AndroidOS.Plangton.a (5.37%), Trojan.AndroidOS.MTK.a (4.25%), AdWare.AndroidOS.Hamob.a (3.39%).
"Malicious software that attacks users of mobile banking accounts continues to develop and the number of programs is growing rapidly," the report added.
"It is obvious that this trend will continue, with more mobile banking Trojans and new technologies to avoid detection and removal."
