Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS platform received a nearly clean bill of health from Finnish security firm F-Secure yesterday, as an article and PDF posted on the Scandinavian firm’s website proclaims, while Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) was found to be the vector for a toxic soup of malware and trojans. While Apple’s robust security protocols left its mobile platform pristine and safe, Android proved to be a fertile field for new hazards and phishing schemes.
The full report, which can be downloaded (PDF) from F-Secure’s site as a free PDF, shows that Q1 2014 mobile threats were targeted squarely against the Android platform. In fact, an astounding 99% of them were aimed at Google’s (GOOG) mobile OS. Out of all the new families of threats that emerged during the winter months of this year, only 1 was aimed at iOS. One more had be designed for Symbian, while the remaining 275 were designed to attack Android.
As F-Secure goes on to detail, over four-fifths of these invasive codes trigger the smartphone to send SMS messages. These messages are directed to premium numbers which charge as much as $2 per response. Russian hackers have already used these methods in the United States, targeting Android, as might be expected. Since the charge is sent to the victim’s phone bill, it may be weeks before the individual realizes they have been ripped off for dozens of dollars. There are many other ways that malware writers can profit from Android’s vulnerabilities, however.
The rise of Bitcoin (BTC) has, interestingly enough, incentivized development of a new type of malware, once again aimed at Android. These malign programs are called “cryptocurrency miners,” and hijack mobile devices to increase the breadth of the hackers’ mining operations. Activating when the system is booted, these programs are subtle and hard to detect, but can yield immense profits to their designers if enough phones can be infected.
Cybercriminals are not interested in the cache of a brand or its reputation. They are simply after practical results – obtaining credit card numbers or bank account information, tricking people into paying unnecessary fees, and so on. Their scrupulous avoidance of iOS and massive attacks on Android are a starkly objective review of each system’s relative vulnerability to malware or hijacking. The silent testimony of these facts reveals that Apple Inc. does indeed have a major advantage in security relative to its competitors.
