Android smartphones are under siege! At least that’s what security company Kaspersky would have us believe. According to the security firm 70 different types of malware are currently being tracked for the operating system, a major growth spurt since September 2010 when only 2 viruses were being tracked.
With a $25 easy signup fee for the Android Market PC World says those numbers will continue to climb until more checks and balances are put in place by Google.
Currently the Google “sandbox” environment tests apps in separate memory hives that should protect phones and Google can also remove apps that are found to contain malicious codes through remote means after they have been installed a move that could be completed too late to truly make a difference in consumer safety.
Users are reminded that they should check which parts of their hardware will be used (a message pops up before installed apps) and then choose whether or not they would like to grant access to those hardware choices.
How bad is the malware reach? In March 2011 400,000 phones were infected with DroidDream malware. [via PC World]
