Found Malware | Android

Juniper found that Android malware has soared 472 percent since this past July. In particular, October and November have seen the fastest rise in Android malware since Google unveiled its mobile platform, according to Juniper's Global Threat Center.

Most Android malware apps go after communications and GPS data, according to Juniper. Among the known malware samples, 55 percent act as spyware, collecting user information. Another 44 percent are considered SMS Trojans, which send SMS messages to premium-rate phone numbers, thereby costing the user money that's virtually unrecoverable.

The number of Android malware samples collected in October rose 110 percent over September and 171 percent over those collected up to July. Further, Juniper's Malicious Mobile Threats Report, released this past May, discovered a 400 percent increase in Android malware from 2009 to the summer of 2010.

Android has also proven a hot spot for malware thanks to the platform's increasing popularity. Many of the malware writers originally targeted Nokia's Symbian and Microsoft's older Windows Mobile systems but jumped ship to Android as it gained more market share, according to Juniper.