Mobile threats

In this edition of Lab Matters, Ryan Naraine interviews Kaspersky Lab CTO Nikolay Nikolay Grebennikov about malicious threats on mobile devices. Grebennikov talks about the taxonomy of threats and explains Kaspersky Lab’s vision for protecting data on smart phones.

The following statistics were compiled in October using data collected from computers running Kaspersky Lab products: 161,003,697 network attacks were blocked.

Google has recently announced the forthcoming availability of Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.0. In such a short time, Android has seemingly come so far. I’d like to stop and take a look at the security improvements and additions featured in this release.

A relatively new development in app advertising has a concerning feature. It leeches much of the same information that many Android Trojans also steal. Through an app promotion campaign, a new feature called “offerwalls” are used by Pay Per Install (PPI) services to promise further adoption and revenue for app developers. But what is the real danger? It is found in the way these services uniquely identify users and the information they collect.

The following statistics were compiled in September using data collected from computers running Kaspersky Lab products

Online banking is now a run-of-the-mill affair for most.

Cyber-criminals are using malicious QR codes to push malware on Android devices.

In 2010 we noted a decline in the number of players in the fake antivirus market, and as a result, fewer counterfeit programs used to distribute fake antivirus products

The first version of ZeuS-in-the-Mobile (ZitMo), malware which targets mTANs, was discovered in the end of September 2010. And now please ‘welcome’ ZeuS-in-the-Mobile for Android.

Various malware and riskware programs created for mobile platforms with premium rate SMS usage have been a huge problem for a very long time for users from countries like Russia, Ukraine or China. What about other countries?

Some major events have taken place since the publication of Mobile Malware Evolution: An Overview, Part 3.

The BBC today reported the announcement of the first UK ‘mobile wallet’, allowing people to pay for things using their mobile phone.

A host of events took place in the world of IT threats during the first quarter of 2011.

Yesterday several new pieces of malware were found in the Android Market. The first big outbreak of malicious software in the Android Market happened more than 2 months ago and there are some things in common between these cases.

In this newest edition of Lab Matters, Director of Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research and Analysis Team Costin Raiu offers some predictions about what we will see in the second half of 2011.