Spammers are shrewd. They go where money is. With Android-based communication devices swarming the market, they have set their eyes on this segment.
“With more than 40 crore active Android-based devices and more than six lakh apps (applications) available on Google Play (the Android app store), the number of attacks has nowhere to go but up,” Internet security firm Trend Micro says, in its latest report on the state of cyber attacks.
Vulnerable
The fact that only 20 per cent of Android-based devices have security apps show how vulnerable this segment is to attacks.
The ever-growing smartphone population is driving hackers to devise newer attack plans.
Automated Transfer Systems (ATS) allow cyber-criminals to automatically transfer funds from victims’ accounts to their own without leaving a trace, Trend Micro warns. “They can steal banking information when victims are not online. While ATS incidents have been spotted in Europe, the rising number of online banking users in the Asia-Pacific region means that ATS could be on the horizon,” it cautions.
India is the top source of spam, generating 13 per cent of all spams worldwide, followed by South Korea and Vietnam, with 7 per cent each.
The other top spam sources include the US (5 per cent), and Pakistan (4 per cent). China is the top source of malware in the Asia-Pacific region.