Could the success of Google’s Android operating system cause the malware floodgates to open up on our cellphones?
From Malware, Google Android and the OHA:
As mobile devices become more tightly integrated with online services, malware authors potentially gain new targets. Any significant step forward in mobile technology that facilitates web browsing (in terms of both satisfaction and accessibility) could open the door for web threats to pose an increased threat to mobile devices. As browsers are used for increasingly complex web services, it is likely that threats will mature to be entirely OS-independent. Instead of simply using the browser as a vehicle to install malware, threats will deliver their entire payload within the browser ‘environment’. In this way, desktops and mobile devices (any device running an appropriate browser) could be targeted.
Certainly the Android OS would be a prime target for any nasties looking to steal your personal information. But how likely is it that these attempts will be successful? I’m not sure. Up until now Linux has never had a problem with malware, and while some claim that this is because Linux is very well designed (Joe Barr at Linux.com states outright that you don’t need antivirus on Linux), supporters of a certain company in Redmond like to insist that if Linux was exposed to 90% market share it would be hammered with open exploits just as hard as Windows has been.
Personally, I don’t think it’s likely that Linux is completely immune, but there are definitely some design decisions that make it a much more difficult target to hit, and the open nature of the software means that any flaw will be fixed much faster.
If Android takes off, maybe we’ll have a chance to find out for sure…
