Sixfold increase in mobile malware

"Only in 2011 the number of malicious programs for mobile devices has increased by six times," - according to a research report "Mobile Malware" by "Kaspersky Lab".

In the second half of last year marked the rapid growth of new threats to mobile platforms. Compare this process with anything happened before is meaningless - in the history of mobile malware was not recorded anything like this. During the study period, "open" 5255 new versions of mobile pests. For one month of December, "Kaspersky Lab" has updated its virus database is greater than in the previous seven years.

Marked not only increase the number of mobile threats, but also qualitative changes in the ranking of the most common pests in comparison with 2010. Dominant positions remain primitive SMS-Trojans (the share fell from 44.2% in 2010 to 36.6% in 2011). In the second step of the "pedestal of evil" were backdoors - malicious programs that allow remote control of the infected machine. This innovation is characteristic just for 2011 - 2010 were not used backdoors. Morbid interest to the subject of virus writers kinds of programs due to the growth of their attention to the operating system Android: the vast number of identified backdoors "bite" Android-smartphones. Third place won spyware which steal personal user information and / or data on an infected mobile device.

The direction of attack on the platform also undergone major changes. In the second half of last year marked the rapid growth in the number of malicious programs for Android. Midsummer was the point at which the number of viruses for Linux surpassed the number of malware for Symbian, three months later left behind platform J2ME. At this point, the position occupied by pests only strengthened. Separate consideration must issue artful schemes of attacks on users of online banking through mobile Trojans. For the first time the forces in this field pests tested back in 2010, and after only a year attack technique has been seriously upgraded. Trojans ZitMo (ZeuS-in-the-Mobile) and SpitMo (SpyEye-in-the-Mobile) supports ordinary malicious software on your computer ZeuS and SpyEye. These ligaments help cyberhawks validate financial transactions carried out from compromised bank accounts. In addition, these Trojans distinguishes them Variation adaptability to platforms: there are versions ZitMo for Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry and Android; malware SpitMo - symbia for all of that Android, which has become the main platform for malicious attacks.

Out of the ordinary event of 2011 was the first case of spread malicious software by using QR-codes, which are due to the ease of use on mobile devices have become a complete substitute for conventional cyberhawks links. Malicious QR-Codes are becoming more common and is not used by one or a group of virus writers, and began to move through all of the same affiliate programs. From this we can conclude that in the near future they will have hugely internetprestupnikov.