Key Development and Finance Updates

Nokia, the Finish telecoms firm, released September 1, the Nokia Threat Intelligence Report – H1 2016, showing a sharp rise in the occurrence of smartphone malware infections.

Smartphone infections nearly doubled between January and July this year compared to the second half of 2015, with smartphones accounting for 78 percent of all mobile network infections.

"Today attackers are targeting a broader range of applications and platforms, including popular mobile games and new IoT [Internet of Things] devices, and developing more sophisticated and destructive forms of malware,” said Kevin McNamee, Head of the Nokia Threat Intelligence Lab.

Key findings of the report include a 96% surge in smartphone infections; mobile infections hit an all-time high in April 2016, with 1.06 percent of devices infected by a range of malware, including ransomware, spyphone applications, SMS Trojans, personal information theft and aggressive adware; Android smartphones were the most targeted mobile platform, accounting for 74 percent of all malware infections compared to Window/PC systems (22 percent), and other platforms, including iOS devices (4 percent); downloaded mobile applications are a key conduit for malware attacks; and the top three mobile malware threats were Uapush.A, Kasandra.B and SMSTracker, together accounting for 47 percent of all infections.