Mobile malware attacks at an all-time high – Nokia

The Nokia Threat Intelligence Report reckons there was a sharp increase in compromised smartphones in 2016 and warned about IoT device vulnerabilities.

Smartphones comprise the vast majority (85%) of all mobile device infections, according to Nokia, and 2016 saw a 400% increase in smartphone malware attacks, meaning that over 1% of all smartphones had been infected by October last year. This comes at a time when the roll-out of IoT devices is ramping, many of which have insufficient security we’re told.

“The security of IoT devices has become a major concern,” said Kevin McNamee, head of the Nokia Threat Intelligence Lab. “The Mirai botnet attacks last year demonstrated how thousands of unsecured IoT devices could easily be hijacked to launch crippling DDoS attacks. As the number and types of IoT devices continue to proliferate, the risks will only increase.”

Android is inevitably the main target for cyber-foulness as it accounts for most smartphones, but iOS is not immune, it seems, being especially affected by Spyphone surveillance software. The Mirai attacks serve as a strong reminder how helpful to distributed denial of service attacks having several zillion more connected devices will be.