Android may be the fastest growing mobile platform but its open source concept, which helps drive its success, could also prove to be its Achilles heel.
Security firm F-Secure predicts that 2011 will see cyber scammers target Android more than any other mobile platform due to the lack of approval processes – like those found on Apple’s Apps Store and Nokia’s Ovi - for Android Market applications.
In 2010, the firm detected Android applications that posed as games while spying on users; applications posing as banking applications with no official connection to banks; and applications that attempted to steal user’s banking credentials.
Jailbroken iPhones could also be exploited for malicious purposes, F-Secure said, after only detecting malware on iPhones that had been unlocked.
F-secure warned that worm-infected iPhones could destroy or steal data, track user’s locations, and spam contacts without user’s knowledge.