The number of malware attacks against Android devices increased by 3.25 times last year, topping 2.3 million, security software provider Kaspersky Lab reported. — Photo baodautu.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The number of financial malware attacks against Android devices grew by 3.25 times last year, topping 2.3 million, according to a new report by security software provider Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky Lab's Android products last year blocked a total of 2,317,194 financial attacks against 775,887 users around the world.

Most of these (2,217,979 attacks against 750,327 users) used Trojan-SMS malware, and the rest (99,215 attacks against 59,200 users) used Trojan-Banker malware.

Although the Trojan-Banker contribution against Android users was relatively small, it continued to grow, it said.

Kaspersky Lab products detected 20 different malicious Trojan-Banker programmes, but most attacks by Android banking malware were by only three malicious families - Faketoken, Svpeng and Marcher.

Kaspersky explained that Svpeng and Marcher can steal online banking credentials as well as credit card information by replacing the authentication fields of mobile banking apps and app-store apps on an infected device.

Faketoken is made for intercepting mobile transaction authentication number (mTAN) codes used in multifactor authentication systems and forwarding it to cybercriminals. These three malicious families accounted for 98.02 per cent of all Trojan-Banker attacks.

Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems in the world, and attracts the attention of cybercriminals targeting users' private information and money, it said. — VNS