“Google! Stop playing with that copy of Angry Birds and go up to your Android Market room and clean it up right now!” Alas, Google is as likely to pay attention to my command as my once four-year old daughter was.
Listen, I like a lot of what Google does. For example, I think Chrome 14 is the best Web browser around, but have you seen the mess of malware in the Android Market? It’s shameful!
The security software company McAfee recently stated that the amount of malware targeting Androids phones jumped 76% in the last quarter (PDF), making it the most heavily attacked of all mobile operating systems. “Overall attacks are becoming more stealth and more sophisticated, suggesting that we could see attacks that remain unnoticed for longer periods of time,” said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee, in a statement.
Of course, they don’t need to be stealthy. Most people download their malware right off the Android Market.