WIDE SPREAD MALWARE – so how widespread is malware – according to various security experts it is widespread not only across the android market place but also across Chrome OS and Apple’s iCloud. So how debilitating is this for the average user – read on….
Android Market Place
Roel Schouwenberg, a security researcher at Kaspersky Labs, on Thursday afternoon warned security professionals attending RSA 2012, one of the industry’s foremost gatherings, that design flaws in Chrome OS and iCloud may make them unsuitable for business use.
Schouwenberg praised Google for developing a rock-solid platform from a security point of view, but warned that users were still exposed to attack through the apps running in their browsers.
“Everyone has heard about the huge increase in Android malware, a lot can be found in the Android marketplace,” Schouwenberg said. “The same problems exist in the Chrome marketplace.”
Schouwenberg said malicious Chrome apps are less prevalent than malicious mobile apps but noted that it is also difficult to detect malware on Chromebooks, slimmed down computers that run only the Chrome OS and browser, because they aren’t protected by anti-malware programs.
As an example, he cited a Chrome app that Kaspersky Labs identified that tried to steal a person’s Facebook credentials.
Google issued a statement in response to Schouwenberg’s claims: “We’re thankful to Mr. Schouwenberg for recognizing the strong security design we have built into Chrome and Chrome OS from the start, but he missed on a few important points.
For many years it appeared that malware not just in the android market place but in all instances of mobile technology were unaffected by malicious software practices, from what we’re seeing in this article this has now been turned on its head. Since the growing importance of mobiles in transaction environments this issue has become a growing problem. For the whole article go to Forbes.
