Is the iOS at risk from malware?

Posted February 17, 2012 by Istvan in Mobile

With the boom in the mobile market—1.6 billion units shipped during the last year—the threats targeting Smartphones and tablet computers are increasing, mainly because these devices offer a wide range of possibilities to interact and manage both work and personal data. A recent study from Juniper Networks has come up with answers to help you decide which OS is more secure.

Juniper Network scanned hundreds of thousands of applications across the mobile landscape (to be precise: 793,631 Apps) before the security company released its 2011 Mobile Threats Report.

According to Juniper, its popularity means attacks on the mobile market are rife. As we previously reported, the Android leads the global mobile OS market. However, the Android was found to be the most vulnerable mobile OS among all other mobile operating systems. Just to see the threat: malicious Android software saw a tremendous 3.325% growth during the last six months of 2011, the Juniper study shows. While there were only 400 malicious bits of software in June, this number jumped to 13,000 by the end of the year.

Juniper identifies three types of malicious software targeting mobile OSs: spyware, SMS Trojans and so-called “Suspicious, but Not Malicious”. But what exactly does this malicious software do? Juniper gives a sneak peak:

“Spyware is an application that has the ability to capture and transfer data—such as GPS coordinates, text records or browser history—without providing an explicit means for the user to identify the application’s actions. Ultimately, the captured data can lead to financial gain for the attacker and financial loss, as well as an invasion of privacy, for the device owner.”

SMS Trojans, run in the background of an application and clandestinely send SMS messages to premium-rate numbers owned by the attacker. Once the message is sent, the money is not recoverable, and the owners of these premium-rate numbers are generally anonymous. Examples of several types of SMS Trojans are detailed in the fake installer portion of this report.

“Suspicious, but not malicious” applications could pose privacy concerns or share unnecessary information with a third party, Juniper highlights in its report.

The scan of those hundreds of thousands of Apps found that Spyware accounted for 63%, and SMS Trojans accounted for 36% of known mobile malware for Android.

Juniper names several reasons why Android has serious flaws when it comes to security. One of them is their particular strength: its popularity. The second driver of Android-based attacks is Android’s open-application marketplace model, which exposes Android users. Currently, if an Android developer posts an App to the official Android Market, it becomes available immediately, without any inspection or vetting to block pirated or malicious Apps.

Google, however, is aware of its security flaws and spent time to removing malicious Apps from its marketplace (when found), but the detection process takes days, which means more exposed Android users. In other words, a sack of cash for the developer, who published the software.

Another complication is that Android devices are free to download Apps from anywhere. Although this gives great flexibility for users, it also gives opportunities for malicious software developers.

Since Juniper has proposed scanning Apps all across the mobile landscape, they also checked Apps written for iOS, concluding that the iOS platform excels when it comes to security.

During its App scan, Juniper did not found any malicious software for the iOS, which is great news for iOS users. However, the security company has rushed to comment that this doesn’t mean full protection, as jailbroken devices are exposed to malware as soon as they are hacked.

The reason that Apple excels when it comes to security is in large part down to its rigid and closed application marketplace and stringent screening model. As developers already know, the App has to go through a security check, which can easily detect any malicious software and the App is rejected immediately.

An interesting aspect pointed out by the security company is that Juniper objects to Apple’s decision not to provide tools for developers to enhance their products’ security. Coming from a company that has a tool to sell, this is understandable, but mainly this is why iOS users can relax and just enjoy their devices. Apple’s rigid and closed marketplace can fend off malicious attacks.

This doesn’t mean, though, that the iOS is perfectly secure. There are a few research analysts, such as Charlie Miller, who has pointed to security flaws in the iOS, which were patched as soon as they were exposed via a security update.