Smartphone malware attacks on the rise throughout 2010

2010 saw a significant rise in the number of smartphone malware attacks, according to mobile security specialists AdaptiveMobile.

Reported infections across all mobile platforms were up 33% over the previous year, with malware engineered to spite Android users rising four-fold. Java-based attacks were the second highest culprits, rising 45%. Symbian and iPhone attacks on the other hand fell over the course of the year.

“With the increasing pervasiveness of Smartphone devices, 2010 has undoubtedly been the year that fraudsters have truly turned their attention to mobile platforms,” says Gareth Maclachlan, Chief Operating Officer, AdaptiveMobile. “The vast majority of consumers are acutely aware of the threats that PC-based viruses, spam messages and phishing emails pose, but many are still unaware of the risks associated with their mobile devices.

“With Smartphone penetration reported to reach 37 per cent in Europe and 44 per cent in the US by 2012, we predict that the number of threats targeted at unsuspecting mobile users will continue to increase at an exponential rate throughout the course of 2011. Even more significantly, the nature of the threats we are seeing will increase in sophistication.

“Whereas the majority of existing threats target either SMS, voice, email or web, the next year will see the emergence of the ‘compound threat’ – intelligent scams designed to exploit multiple phone capabilities in order to reap maximum reward for the criminals, before the user even realises they have become a victim.”

Have you been a victim of mobile malware during 2010? If so, what problems did it cause and how did you fix it? Would you be turned off of using a certain OS because of it’s security flaws? Let us know in the comments below.