India ranks 4th in the world in Mobile Malware

Chandigarh, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi among most risk prone

The first half 2014 saw an increase in online attacks that lock up user data and hold it for ransom - even on mobile devices. According to a study India ranks fourth in the world mobile malware attacks, with the top five most infected cities being Chandigarh, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and New Delhi.

According to F-Secure Labs' Threat Report H1 2014, tier-2 cities are becoming favorite destination for mobile malware --- Hyderabad & Chandigarh are among top 5 cities most affected by mobile malware.

The report also pointed out that there has been a rising numbers of attacks from malicious software known as ransomware underscore the importance of data security for home, enterprise and government users. Ransomware demands payment of a sum in exchange for unlocking a user's files.

"Details emerged earlier this year that paint a fascinating picture of crime-based malware evolving into espionage-ware," said Sean Sullivan, Security Advisor, both of F-Secure Labs. "The bad guys out there are targeting far more that credit cards these days. Everything is of interest and there are likely a significant number of buyers for corporate data."

On the mobile front, in Q2 of 2014, 295 new threat families and variants were discovered - 294 on Android and one on iOS. That's up from the first quarter, during which 277 threats were discovered, 275 targeting Android. The top Android threats in Q2 were Trojans that either send SMS messages to premium numbers, or harvest data from a device and forward it on to a remote server. The Slocker malware reported in June, which pretends to be a legitimate app, was the first ransomware to appear on the mobile platform.

Amit Nath, Country Manager, India & SAARC, F-Secure said, "Many incidents as highlighted in our Threat report shows that cybercriminals constantly adapt to new trends whether in by utilising new malware or targeted attacks techniques to continue with their attacks. 2014 first half has highlighted many threats and F-Secure have also timely highlighted cyber attacks to keep its existing and prospective users safe. We will continue with our constant effort to secure you and ensure you switch on freedom."

In PC threats, of the Top 10 detections, the largest share (31 per cent) were of the six-year-old Downadup/Conficker worm. The worm has infected millions of computers in over 200 countries. This worm's long life is mostly due to computers that run old software - illustrating the importance of keeping a computer's software up to date so that old security flaws will be patched.