Over half of the Android-based smartphone and tablet owners don’t use any security software to protect their devices against cyber-threats, according to a survey conducted by B2B International and Kaspersky Lab.
The survey revealed that 40% of smartphone and 42% of tablet owners reported to have installed security applications on their devices and are currently using them.
Android is the most popular operating system for ordinary users as well as cybercriminals who use malware to steal from these devices, the report said.
The report said about 99% of current malware samples used against mobile devices have been developed for the Android platform.
The Kaspersky Lab has identified 35,000 malicious samples during 2012, while the number of samples for the first half of 2013 was reported to be more than 47,000.
The report said the attacks were driven by Android’s popularity and functionality.
The report revealed that a malicious programme can make a smartphone send text messages to premium-rate short numbers and can turn the smartphone into a spying device that provides information about the device owner to the cyber criminals.
