Android vulnerabilities, increased online banking threats and availability of sophisticated, inexpensive malware toolkits are among the growing concerns cited as major cyber-security threats in a report.

Trend Micro's Q2 2013 Security Roundup Report describes cyber-security threats from the previous quarter combined with analysis to evaluate and anticipate emerging attacks.

The report showed the number of malicious and high-risk Android apps has grown to 718,000 in the second quarter – a massive increase from the 509,000 high-risk apps found in the previous quarter.

These malicious apps are on track to exceed one million by year's end, as predicted by Trend Micro in the 2013 forecast. By way of comparison, it took a decade for PC malware to amass this number, said a statement.

Linda Barrabee, research director, Connected Intelligence at The NPD Group, said approximately only 30 per cent of all Android smartphones and tablets in the US, have any type of security app installed.
 
"Due to the fractured nature of the Android network, it is very difficult for patches to reach all users in an effective timeframe. In some cases, users will never get patches as vendors leave their customers at risk of attack," said JD Sherry, vice president, technology and solutions, Trend Micro.

"Until we have the same urgency to protect mobile devices as we have for protecting PCs, this very real threat will continue to grow rapidly. To fight this, Android users need to take great care when using their devices and take the simple, but effective, step of adding security software to all mobile devices."

The report also warned of increasing hazards to online banking, which saw malware increasing 29 per cent from the previous quarter. The US was the top target of malware, with more than one million instances amounting to 28 percent of global compromises, followed by Brazil at 22 percent and Australia at five percent.

Preventative measures, such as closely monitoring account activity and using third-party security solutions, will help mitigate this growing threat, said the report.

The report found that malware toolkits are being sold via inexpensive, free or bundled pricing schemes, such as two-for-one packages. The ease of access to these effective malware toolkits increases the hazards Internet users will face going into the remainder of 2013 and beyond, it said. - TradeArabia News Service