Privacy-stealing malware is rampant in the Android world, with a full 62% of infected devices being used as conduits for data exfiltration.
"It is widely, but wrongly, believed that malware causes no serious problems beyond slowing down a mobile phone and possibly crashing a device," said Yan Huang, COO of 360 Mobile Security, which released the findings in its Q2 2015 Malware and Vulnerability
Report. “The truth is, however, that mobile malware attacks are growing in sophistication and exploiting vulnerabilities that can not only compromise sensitive data, but lead to identity theft and serious financial loss.”
Of the infected devices in the US market, more than half (62%) were infected by privacy-stealing malware, which looks to compromise sensitive data such as contacts, locations, pictures and login credentials. By stealing sensitive data from mobile devices, hackers can gain access to a user's financial data, enabling bad actors to black-mail the user, or simply sell the data on the black market.
