Android crashing?

Does your Android device crash frequently or has it taken a performance hit? Or do you always exceed your data cap or run out of battery even though you don’t use it much? Or do you see obtrusive advertisements popping up often on your mobile device?

These are some of the commons signs of malware infection, according to security experts.
As most modern malware are capable of working silently in the background, they can not only affect your device adversely but also send out your personal information to a third-party which could result in financial loss.

It doesn’t take much to contract malware — they could be hidden in apps, especially games, or infect your device via a compromised website.

Major security vendors, including Sophos, Kaspersky Lab, Trend Micro, Fortinet and F-Secure, have all reported a rise in mobile malware.

This is in part due to the explosion in the uptake of Android devices, be it smartphones or tablets, and the largely unregulated Android app market.

In the past 12 months mobile malware has increased sixfold to well over 650,000 individual pieces of malware for Android — a tiny fraction if compared to the malware on PCs — but it’s the fastest growing threat, reported Sophos.

While Kaspersky Labs said about 145,000 new malicious programs for mobile devices was detected last year which is more than double the figure in 2012.

Apart from high-risk apps, web threats like phishing continues to be the biggest concern for mobile devices, according to Trend Micro. In a phishing attack the perpetrator usually mimics a legitimate site to steal personal information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details.

Financial sites remain the most favoured phishing target particularly in the second quarter of 2013 with PayPal being the most “abused” company when it comes to such scams.