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According to a new report by Juniper Global Threat Center, malware is becoming a serious threat to Android-based devices. Over the past few months, Android has seen a 472 percent increase in viruses, trojans and other malware. October and November are fast becoming the largest growth in Android malware discovery in the history of the platform. Apple’s rigid screening process is starting to look a lot nicer now, isn’t it?
Not only is Android seeing an exponential increase in the quantity of malware, but it is seeing an advancement in the level of technology that is being written for these malicious bugs. In the spring of this year, malware was just starting to gain root access to Android-based devices, but according to Juniper:
“Today, just about every piece of malware that is released contains this capability, simply because the vulnerabilities remain prevalent in nearly 90% of Android devices being carried around today. Attackers know this, and they’re using it to gain privilege escalation on the device in order to gain access to data and services that wouldn’t otherwise be available.”

While the free-loving open-source ideology that Google prides itself on is great in theory, the Juniper report calls into question the lack of guidelines that the company requires in order to get an app approved. Guidelines that developers would have to adhere to if they were to try to get an app into Apple’s App Store.
According to Juniper, the main reason that malware is so prevalent in Android when it is all but non-existent in iOS is the way in which both companies approach their policies and guidelines for submitting apps to their application stores.
“Android’s open applications store model, which the lacks code signing and an application review process that Apple requires, makes it easy for attackers to distribute their malware. There is still no upfront review process in the official Android Market that offers even the hint of a challenge to malware writers that their investment in coding malware will be for naught.”
According to the Apple Developer Guidelines, apps that have hidden features, non-public APIs, read or write data outside their designated containers, or download or launch code will be rejected. Each and every app, no matter how long it takes, is screened. Sure, the process is not perfect, but the chances of someone getting malware past Apple’s screeners are next to zero. Google does not screen Android apps at all.
So, the next time you hear someone talk about how they hate Apple’s controlling policies and “walled-garden” approach to offering apps for public consumption, you can be rest assured that that person is probably holding more viruses in his device than is found on a five dollar bill. Where is the front gate to that garden?

via: padgadget