SMobile Systems analysis of Android App Store reveals massive potential for malware and viruses

COLUMBUS, USA: For the first time since its inception, Android based smartphones outsold iPhones in the first part of 2010. Consumers who purchase these smartphones are downloading millions of Android-based applications, and, according to a new SMobile Systems analysis of the Android market, putting their personal and professional data at risk.

SMobile System's Global Threat Center has performed an in-depth analysis of over 48,000 applications currently available on the Android market and discovered the following threats:

* 20 percent of applications in the Android market grant a third party application access to private or sensitive information that an attacker could use for malicious purposes, such as Identity Theft, mobile banking fraud and corporate espionage;
* 5 percent of applications have the ability to place a call to any number, without requiring user intervention;
* Dozens of applications have the identical type of access to sensitive information as known spyware
* 2 percent of market submissions can allow an application to send unknown premium SMS messages without user intervention.

"The Android operating system and the Android Market are quickly becoming the most widely used mobile platform and app store in the world. There are individuals and organizations out there right now, developing malicious code designed to capture your most personal information and use it to their advantage," said Neil Book, CEO of SMobile Systems.