According to the results of the global survey "Mobile cyber-threats"Carried out by Kaspersky Lab and INTERPOL, one in five Android devices were attacked by malicious software at least once, during the period August 2013 – July 2014. The most common method of attack was the use of SMS Trojans, which are malicious programs that send text messages to high-cost numbers without the device owner's knowledge. It is noted that the research was based on data obtained from devices with Kaspersky Lab solutions installed.
Overall, 1.000.000 Android device users encountered malware from August 2013 until July 2014. This size corresponds approximately to 1 / 5 of all users of devices that have Kaspersky Lab products. Indeed, during this period, most of the digital attacks that have occurred in recent years have been recorded.
Attacks on Android devices were mainly targeted against users from Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Ukraine and Germany. This is mainly due to the fact that users in these countries often pay for content and online SMS services. For digital criminals, this is an attractive way to earn money through malicious attacks, as they can use these services to quickly and anonymously transfer prepaid mobile device accounts to third-party bank accounts.
In Eastern Europe, Kaspersky Lab recorded the most mobile malware attacks in Ukraine (44% of all attacks in region), in Poland (23%), Turkey (11%) and Romania (8%). Greece completes the top five with 7%.
A key reason for the increase in the number of attacks and users who have been attacked was the use of programs Trojan-SMS. Οι επιθέσεις αυτές αντιστοιχούσαν στο 57,08% των συνολικών επιθέσεων που εντόπισαν οι λύσεις ασφάλειας της Kaspersky Lab για συσκευές Android. Στη δεύτερη θέση βρέθηκαν τα RiskTool (21,52%). Πρόκειται για νόμιμα, υπό προϋποθέσεις, προγράμματα που μπορούν, ωστόσο, να χρησιμοποιούνται για κακόβουλους σκοπούς (αποστολή ειδοποιήσεων για πληρωμένα μηνύματα, μετάδοση γεωγραφικών δεδομένων κλπ.). Οι εφαρμογές «επιθετικής διαφήμισης» (pop-ups, ειδοποιήσεις στο status bar κ.α.) βρέθηκαν στην τρίτη θέση με 7,37%.
And in Eastern Europe, the situation is similar. Trojan-SMS programs were the most widespread in 52% of attacks, followed by RiskTool with 32% and AdWare with 6%.
"We often hear experts say Android users do not have to worry, because the number of attacks is not important, although malicious programs for this operating system appear at regular intervals. Until recently, this comment could be considered reasonable. However, the situation has changed dramatically in the last year - and not for the better, said Roman Unuchek, senior virus analyst at Kaspersky Lab.
However, things were not entirely bleak throughout the investigation. In particular, in April 2014, Kaspersky Lab experts noticed a serious decrease in the total number of attacks, which was mainly due to a significant drop in the number of Trojan-SMS attacks. This may have been a result of the new rules introduced by Russia's telecoms regulator, which relate to services paid for via SMS. Based on these new rules, all telecom operators in Russia will now have to receive a confirmation message from every subscriber trying to pay for services via SMS. From July 2014, the number of attacks started to increase again. It is therefore possible that the new legislation contributed to the decline seen in April, indirectly confirming the effectiveness that legislation can have against digital fraud.
"The report by INTERPOL and Kaspersky Lab highlights the dominant threats and trends that occurred in 2013 and 2014. This report highlights once again that digital crime is not exclusively a new form of crime. What we are seeing here is that the model and structure of traditional organized crime has been incorporated into a technologically advanced form." said Dr. Madan Oberoi, CEO of INTERPOL's Cyber Innovation & Outreach
More information on "Mobile cyber-threats" Lab is available on the site Securelist.com.
