New figures published by security firm Blue Coat Security Labs show that adverts with embedded malware are now the largest treat to mobile device security. Its latest findings show that one in every five ads on mobiles drive users to threats or malicious content. The last time such malware threats were surveyed, back in November 2012, adverts were ranked fourth place, with porn as the 'top threat vector'.
Blue Coat says that while the malware threats are significant on mobiles it is perhaps surprising it isn't even worse "given the proliferation of the devices and the roughly 1.5 billion new ways to steal data, passwords or money." However it warns that; "Over the last several years, mass market malware has developed into a robust, highly functioning, if highly illegal economy. Cybercriminals can purchase exploit kits and even new vulnerabilities on the open (black) market. They can rent botnets, sell the data they steal and are even protected by service-level agreements". Meanwhile most of the attacks upon mobile users' security involve social engineering where a user agrees to change security settings, download an app or give other permissions to a third party.
You can clearly see the rise of web ads as the biggest threat vector to mobiles. This 'malvertising' is often from lesser known ad networks that are 'tricked' into unknowingly serving malicious ads, says Blue Coat. While you can see that malvertising is now the top dog for mobile malware that doesn't mean that porn browsing on mobiles has got any safer. Blue Coat reminds us that "Requests for pornography on mobile devices don’t even reach one percent of all requested content, yet it accounts for more than 16 percent of all attacks. While users don’t access pornography that frequently, when they do, they are very vulnerable to malware."
Blue Coat has a number of suggestions for mobile users to stay safe with a series of 'best practices' call outs in its report. Safety conscious advice includes:
- Avoid pornography on your mobile devices.
- Avoid clicking on ads on your mobile device.
- Never download or purchase an app outside of legitimate markets such as the App Store or Google Play.
