According to the results of the global survey "Mobile cyber-threats"Carried out by Kaspersky Lab και η INTERPOL, μία στις πέντε συσκευές Android δέχτηκε επίθεση από κακόβουλο λογισμικό τουλάχιστον μία φορά, κατά την περίοδο Αύγουστος 2013 – Ιούλιος 2014. Η πιο διαδεδομένη μέθοδος επίθεσης ήταν η χρήση SMS Trojans, δηλαδή κακόβουλων προγραμμάτων που στέλνουν γραπτά μηνύματα σε αριθμούς υψηλής χρέωσης, χωρίς ο κάτοχος της συσκευής να το γνωρίζει. Σημειώνεται ότι η έρευνα βασίστηκε σε data resulting from devices with installed Kaspersky Lab solutions.
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.
Στην Ανατολική Ευρώπη, η Kaspersky Lab κατέγραψε τις περισσότερες επιθέσεις mobile malware στην Ουκρανία (44% του συνόλου των επιθέσεων στην περιοχή), στην Πολωνία (23%), στην Τουρκία (11%) και στη Ρουμανία (8%). Την κορυφαία πεντάδα συμπληρώνει η Greece with 7%.
The main reason for the increase in the number of attacks and the number of users who have been attacked was the use of Trojan-SMS programs. These attacks accounted for 57,08% of the total attacks detected by Kaspersky Lab's security solutions for Android devices. In second place were RiskTool (21,52%). These are legal, under conditions, programs that can, however, be used for malicious purposes (sending alerts for paid messages, transmitting geographic data, etc.). The applications "aggressive advertising" (pop-ups, notifications in the status bar, etc.) were in third place with 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. With base these new rules, all telecommunication providers in Russia will now have to receive a confirmation message from every subscriber who tries 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 INTERPOL and Kaspersky Lab report highlights the major threats and trends of 2013 and 2014. This report underscores once again that digital crime is not just a new form of crime. What we observe here is that the model and structure of traditional organized crime has been embedded in a technologically advanced form, said Dr. Madan Oberoi, Director of Cyber Innovation & Outreach of INTERPOL
More information on "Mobile cyber-threats" Lab is available on the site Securelist.com.
