Malicious Android smartphone applications are on the increase

Threats to Android devices from malicious applications are increasing, according to security company Bitdefender.

Since January 2011 Bitdefender said it had seen a 900 per cent increase in Android malicious software 'families' or groups.

Head of the Bitdefender, Catalin Cosoi, online threats lab, said there were not many safeguards in place on the Android Market and that some applications had abused the lax security: "Unlike Apple, who imposes strict safety checks for their applications, Google welcomes any third-party developer and their applications.

"However, the relaxed publication policies have been abused by some application developers who have pushed malicious applications or potentially harmful applications."

While the majority of malicious applications are found on unofficial versions of the Android Market, some do find there way onto the official store. In March 2011, Google pulled 58 malicious applications from the Android Market, but only after they had been installed on about 260,000 devices.

There are also a number of apps on the Android Market that contain permissions they don't need and could be putting user security at risk. A flashlight/torch application that is still available on the Android Market asks for full internet access and access to the phone number, serial number and details of any numbers dialled on the phone.

Mr. Cosoi said that privacy was now an important issue for smartphone users, but a lot of people still continue to install applications without checking what permissions they need.

He said: "Privacy has become a top concern for smartphone owners, but a proportion of users continue to install apps regardless of the permissions they require."

"It is difficult to say whether applications that ask for extra permissions are allowed on the Market or not, as this may be the result of implementing malicious functionality, or might simply mean that they are poorly coded.

"We recommend that users avoid applications that ask for more permissions than they would normally require."

We put a number of questions to Google, but at the time of publication the company hadn't been able to answer them.