With 90% of mobile malware targeting Android, can pretty much any ‘droid be secured with the installation of an app?
The AV-TEST Institute is an independent IT security research facility based in Germany. It is perhaps best known for putting antivirus software under the labs-based microscope. If Android is as insecure as everyone says, how come 19 out of the 26 antivirus security apps in the latest test got a perfect score?
That score of 13 was comprised of six points for ‘protection’ and another six for ‘usability’ with another single point added for extra features. It’s the protection score that interests us most, as ten of the apps managed to detect 100 percent of the latest malware samples in real time, and 100 percent of those discovered in the previous four weeks. What’s more, the remaining nine apps detected at least 99.7 percent and the industry average across all tested apps is a pretty high bar at 99 percent anyway.
Does this mean that even with 90 percent or more of mobile malware targeting the Android platform, actually pretty much any Android can be ‘secured’ with the installation of an app? Does it mean, perhaps, that the AV-TEST researchers are looking at the wrong threats?
