McAfee, a subsidiary of Intel, released their quarterly “Threats Report” wherein the alarming high number of malware wreaking havoc in mobile devices, specifically on Android devices was discussed.

According to the report, there are almost 14,000 available malware samples in McAfee’s database which include SMS-sending malware, mobile botnets, spyware, and destructive Trojans.  This means there’s a possibility that there could be more waiting to be discovered.

The report also mentioned that mobile malware attacks are based on old PC malware such as drive-by downloads wherein a mobile user is tricked into visiting a malicious site where the malware downloads itself to the device.  Though downloaded malware still needs to be installed in order to ruin your life but that is easily addressed.  The malware author disguises it as a software update.  And since Android is notorious for fragmented update roll out, getting an “update” would be very much welcomed, no questions asked.

Aside from that, the report also discussed the revival of PC malware such as ransomware wherein the malware encrypts a user’s data or the entire computer so the user cannot use it then, using anonymous payment methods, demands money from the user to restore the computer or data back to normal.  The thing is, if the person does give in and pays the ransom, there’s no assurance that the wrongdoing will be corrected as ransomware usually destroys data or render computers useless after an attack.  So paying won’t actually solve anything.  Though ransomware has been around for years, it wasn’t until this year that it’s becoming more common.  This may be due to the fact that more people are now using computers for almost anything.

Though you might think that the most common form of spreading malware is via spam e-mails, this form of an attack is actually declining. Though a notable increase was seen this quarter, McAfee doubts that it would significantly influence the downward path it’s currently taking.  Though the decline, things haven’t changed, spamware authors still use social engineering to trick people into visiting shady sites or downloading malicious content.

“Spammers find the effectiveness of social engineering lures differs depending on countries, cultures, religions, and other factors,” McAfee stated in the report.  “The world “leader” was delivery status notification (DSN), an old favorite, and drug-related lures were also very popular.”

As always, protecting mobile devices is still about staying away from unknown sites, vetting apps before downloading an executing them, and keeping away from unknown SMS messages. Social engineering and Trojans go hand-in-hand and in the mobile market the name of the game is fake apps that mimic popular games such as Angry Birds or instant messengers.