Android phones account for 79% of malware, study finds Americans willingly open malicious emails and the New York Times and Twitter are hit by the SEA

Android phones account for 79% of malware
The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have reported that 79 percent of malicious attacks on mobile phones in 2012 occurred on devices that were running Google’s Android operating system. The mobile operating system is the world’s most popular, but authorities have blamed the high number of attacks on the system’s ‘market share and open-source architecture’. Nokia’s Symbian operating system had the second highest number of attacks, while Apple’s system has had only 0.7 percent. The news comes in the wake of security firm Symantec’s discovery of a ‘master key’ bug for Android devices which is already being widely exploited in China.

Americans willingly open malicious emails
A study conducted by TNS Global has found that 30 percent of Americans surveyed would open an email even if they knew that it was suspicious or contained a virus. A further one in eleven admitted to infecting their computer with a virus as a result of opening a malicious email attachment. According to statistics from the Anti-Phishing Working Group, more than 74,000 unique phishing campaigns were uncovered during their reporting period which targeted more than 1,100 brands. The fact that so many Americans would knowingly open a malicious email is even more alarming when you consider that anyone who’s willing to open these emails at home is also likely to be willing to open them at the office, putting corporations at risk.

New York Times and Twitter hit by Syrian hackers
The New York Times’ website and Twitter are both still experiencing problems in the wake of a hack carried out at the beginning of this week by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA). The hacking group have also recently claimed responsibility for attacks on companies including the BBC and the Financial Times. The SEA gained access to the two websites by editing their Domain Name System information, which resulted in the domains redirecting visitors to websites hosted by the SEA. Hosting company Melbourne IT has said that the hackers managed to enter through the ‘front door’ and added that they were looking at implementing ‘additional layers of security’ in order to protecting the details of their domains.