Non-Windows platforms accounted for much of the growth in malware in the first quarter of this year, according to security vendor McAfee.
The company's quarterly Threats Report said that McAfee's labs discovered eight million new malware samples. Mobile malware accounted for 8,000 samples: a small proportion, but one that has increased rapidly, according to Vincent Weaver, head of McAfee's labs. Malware, he said, is "increasingly being extended to other platforms, such as mobile and Mac".
Much of the mobile malware uncovered for mobile devices targets Android. As many as 7,000 malware samples targeted the operating system, a staggering 1,200 per cent increase on the first quarter of last year. Most of the Android malware aimed to collect financial data, but the majority of malicious apps came from third-party apps markets, rather than the official Android market.
On the Macintosh platform, the Flashback Trojan accounted for an increase in malware activity, although the number of Mac malware variants remains low. McAfee found 250 new Mac malware samples in the first quarter, although as victims of malware will point out, it only takes one sample to infect a system, or a network.
The report also found a steady increase in the number of botnets now put at over five million infectons and that the United States remains the primary source of cyber attacks. Hactivist, or politically-motivated attacks, however, increased in Europe, especially as a result of protests against the proposed ACTA anti-piracy laws.
