Apple iOS and Google Android Running Smartphones at Risk from Hackers

A new report has indicated that as many as one in 20 smartphones running either Google's Android or Apple's iOS operating systems could be infected with dangerous software.

In the report Tusteer chief executive Mickey Boodaei claimed that both Android and the iOS are vulnerable to a slew of new security risks.

Boodaei went on to comment that compared to most security companies, "Fraudsters are two steps ahead". Later adding, "Fraudsters have all the tools they need to effectively turn mobile malware into the biggest customer security problem we've ever seen".

The chief executive prophesied that within the next 12 to 24 months, as cyber criminals start exploiting the OS's "zero-day" vulnerabilities, as many as one in 20 of all Android and iOS running devices could be infected by mobile malware.

Google's Android operating system was flagged as being particularly vulnerable. Boodaei commented:

"Android's security architecture is not currently up to the challenge. This is reflected mainly in the ease of generating powerful fraudulent applications and the ease of distributing these applications.

"Fraudsters can easily build applications that have access to sensitive operating system resources such as text messages, voice, web traffic, and more. Users installing these applications do get a message with a list of resources the app is requesting access to but would usually ignore it as many applications request access to an extensive list of resources.

"Building a powerful fraudulent Android application that steals and abuses your identity and your bank account is almost trivial. Distributing these applications on the Android Market is even more trivial."

Later adding that, "there are no real controls around the submission process that could identify and prevent publishing malicious applications on these stores. Compared to Apple's App Store, Android Market is the Wild West.

"[T]he process of identifying and removing malicious applications from the Android Market requires major improvements".

Though to a lesser extent, Apple's iOS was also flagged as being vulnerable to the new mobile cyber attacks, warning,"vulnerabilities in iOS could allow malicious websites to jailbreak a device and infect it with malware without the user's consent or knowledge".

Closing his cyber-doomsday prophesy, Boodaei warned, "we are about to face one of the worse security problems ever and it won't be long before we do".

Neither Apple nor Google have commented on the report.