Android OS most vulnerable to infections: Study

The Android operating system accouns for 79 per cent of all malware infections on smartphones, and the threat was multiplying, reveals research by security firm F-Secure yesterday.

According to Finland-based F-Secure, the free Google operating system that had been gaining smartphone market share globally, had emerged as the dominant platform targeted by hackers.

''Every quarter, malware authors bring forth new threat families and variants to lure more victims and to update on the existing ones,'' the F-Secure quarterly report said, according to AFP.

''In the fourth quarter alone, 96 new families and variants of Android threats were discovered, which almost doubles the number recorded in the previous quarter.''

According to the report, the only other platform with any significant share of malware was Symbian, the system dropped by Nokia, which, according to F-Secure, accounted for 19 per cent.

Other major platforms that included Apple's iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone – each had under 1 per cent of mobile phone infections.